The Warlock's Sister
by Carol J Forrester
Summary: Merlin's sister comes to visit. The one he hasn't seen in years except for the odd letter now and again while she's been off traveling. But her she is, dressed unlike anyone Camelot has ever seen and apparently stealing Gwaine's heart.
1. Chapter 1

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter One – updated 26/12/11

"What the hell are all you lot gawking at? I thought this was meant to be training! Not, 'Let's-all-stand-about-and-stare' at whatever it is that you are staring at!"

Arthur glared at the backs of his Knights' heads, who seemingly had not heard a single word that he had said. Today was not going well! Firstly Merlin had not turned up so he neither had his breakfast and now it seemed that Camelot's finest had been reduced to a group of deaf, dumb idiots.

"Excuse me, but you're Prince was speaking to you!" Arthur growled, debating if hitting one of them with the hilt of his sword would be considered an overreaction.

Gwaine's hand shot out without Gwaine himself actually looking around and latched onto Arthur's arm dragging him forward so that he was stood with the rest of them.

"Shut up Princess and tell us who you think that chick talking to Merlin is!"

Disgruntled Arthur switched his gaze towards the other side of the training field where Merlin stood chatting animatedly to a girl. Arthur blinked.

"Who is that?" he asked incredulously, watching in shock as his manservant attempted to squirm away from the girl who was trying to remove a smudge of dirt for his cheek, before finally giving in and leaning back against the railings.

Gwaine shot Arthur a withering look,

"We were hoping you would be able to tell us that one Princess. She seems to know Merlin _really_ well."

The girl in question was standing dressed in a pair of black skin tight trousers, a white shirt which ended in flared cuffs at the elbow and a tweed waistcoat. As she spoke she gently kicked at the pebbles by her feet with the tip of one of her knee high back boots which were equipped with heels which looked impossible to walk in never mind anything wear day to day.

"An old friend perhaps?" Lancelot offered,

"No." Gwaine muttered, "They look closer than that." A frown furrowed the man's forehead.

"An old girlfriend?" Elyan threw in as a guess,

The whole group dissolved into laughter.

"Girlfriend!" Arthur spluttered. Elyan just shrugged, mild annoyance showing on his face.

"Arthur?" The whole group spun round to find themselves facing a quizzical Gwen. "Arthur? Why are you lot doing staring at Merlin and his sister instead of training?"

"Sister!" Gwen's eyebrow shot up as all four men answered in unison.

"Yes his sister." She repeated slowly. "She's visiting him for a bit, they haven't seen each other in a while she's been away travelling." Gwen shifted the basket of washing in her arms so it sat further up on her hip.

Arthur felt a stab of jealously at Gwen knowing more about Merlin then he did.

"Since when has Merlin had a sister?" he asked "I've never heard of her and I didn't meet her when I went to Ealdor?" realising he'd been rambling Arthur quickly cut off.

"I mean it's not like I care that much anyway. It's just Merlin afterwards."

Arthur felt Gwaine's hand clap him over the shoulder.

"You just keep telling yourself that Arthur."

Gwen suddenly felt very awkward, what was the big deal with Merlin's sister visiting. Granted he never mentioned her and she had a strange dress sense but she was a lovely person and Merlin's sister. It was disconcerting how Gwaine kept staring at her though.

"We should go meet her." Gwen was snapped out of her scrutiny of Gwaine by Arthur's abrupt announcement.

"Just to you know, welcome her, to Camelot. Officially." Arthur nodded to himself as he spoke, trying to convince himself that he wasn't going over there just to be nosey. If he was honest, he was a little hurt Merlin hadn't mentioned a sister to him, they were friends he thought, though he would never tell the idiot that.

Merlin's eyes went huge when he saw his sister leaning against the barrier around the training field. He was meant to be getting Arthur's breakfast but he's only just got the letter from Catherine that she would be arriving today and he hadn't had time to tell Arthur or get someone to cover for him.

"Catherine!" he yelled, sprinting towards the girl with the short choppy brown hair, grinning back at him.

"Baby brother!" She laughed, enveloping him in a huge hug, her slim frame concealing that she was much stronger than she appeared. "Well not so much baby brother now!" she teased, pinching his cheeks she looked him over. He was skinny as a rake but he still had those beautiful blue eyes and the constant bed head.

"I only got your letter today!" Merlin admitted, almost jumping around in excitement. He'd missed her so much.

"Well you know me. I always race to see if I can beat Hunter." Hunter was the falcon who Catherine kept as a companion on her travels. Humans apparently spoke too much. The note to say that she would be visiting had come tied around Hunter's ankle and Merlin had nearly lost a finger trying to retrieve it.

"He really doesn't like the delivery part by the way." Merlin said, holding up his hand to show her the finger with a chunk missing from it.

"You have to watch the beak." Catherine conceded.

"_Mer_lin!"

"Oh no." Merlin felt his heart sink. "Arthur!" he said cheerily. "I know I forgot your breakfast but I had something important come up. I'll be on time tomorrow I prom..."

"Merlin I know."

"Huh?" Merlin stared at Arthur confused. "You know what?"

"That your sister is visiting. Which you could have told me don't you think since you seemed able to at least tell Gwen." The confusion didn't leave Merlin's face.

"I didn't tell Gwen."

"Yes you did." Arthur insisted, "She was just telling us about how this was your sister." He indicated to Catherine who was carefully watching a semi-drooling Gwaine.

"Oh. That was me." She interrupted.

Both Arthur and Merlin looked at her.

"How do you know Gwen?" Merlin asked.

"Ran into her in the lower town, asked for directions and she told me who she was and showed me the way. I recognised her name from your letters."

Explanation excepted Merlin turned back to talk to Arthur.

"I'm sorry I should have said she was coming, I just didn't have time. I only found out this morning!"

"It's fine Merlin. But you know what as she's your sister and Gwaine is so obviously fascinated by her!"

Gwaine's head shot up at Arthur's observations managed to break through his half drunk mindset.

"Am not!" he argued, only partly aware of what he was saying "Well I... it's not that you're not fascinating... you are... but... I... I... SHUT UP PRINCESS!"

Catherine suppressed a snort of laughter at Gwaine's blushing face.

"As I was saying," Arthur continued, "Perhaps ..."

"Catherine." She supplied helpfully, still smiling at Gwaine who was now shuffling his feet and staring at the ground muttering darkly about Princesses.

"Perhaps Catherine would like to join us on a hunt this morning?"

"I thought we were training this morning?" Elyan asked.

"We went hunting yesterday!" Merlin objected, his face falling miserably.

"Change of plan."

Arthur smirked at Merlin. That would teach him from keeping thing from him. Merlin hated hunting.

"Sounds like fun." Catherine chimed, "When will we go?"

"Let's head of as soon as possible." Arthur suggested, watching as Merlin's face became even more downcast. "Merlin go get the horses ready. I'm sure Gwaine will entertain your sister will you do."

Catherine watched as her brother wandered back up to the castle. It looked like this visit was going to be more interesting than she first though.

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	2. Chapter 2

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Two – updated 26/12/11

The forest around them was almost silent, apart from the wildlife that was of course and the babbling brook that trickled down the side of the path that the small troop were walking down. Merlin had just finished preparing the horses when Arthur had revealed that in fact walking would be a much more invigorating that using the horses, which meant Merlin had to return all the horses back to where they had been, before they could set off. Arthur had arranged that he, Catherine and Merlin walked at the front and Gwaine, Lancelot and Elyan walked behind them, the other Knights had remained in Camelot. This had seemed like the best way of coaxing out more information about Merlin's sister and where she'd been until now from the pair.

"It wasn't drooling!" Gwaine hissed.

"You defiantly were Gwaine. You haven't been able to keep your eyes off that girl since she turned up I mean..." Elyan's taunting paused as he realised where Gwaine was staring.

"Last time I checked Gwaine. I was the one talking to you, not Catherine's but."

Gwaine's face flared red at Elyan's words and a muffled chortle escaped from Lancelot.

"I was examining the material of her clothing!"He protested,

"Sure you were Gwaine." Lancelot patted him on the shoulder in a similar way to how Gwaine had patronised Arthur earlier.

"They're leather." Catherine sang out.

Gwaine, Lancelot and Elyan all halted immediately as if slamming into an invisible wall.

"Pardon?" Gwaine gulped, watching as Catherine spun around elegantly so that she was now walking backwards but somehow still managing to judge where every root and rock were so that she didn't trip. How were she and Merlin siblings exactly? Gwaine wondered.

"My trousers are made of leather." She smiled cheekily, resting her hand on her waist as she walked and accentuating the sway of her hips.

"Oh. O.K." Gwaine managed to splutter out, earning a bemused look from Merlin.

"Gwaine are you O.K, you're all red and you look like your struggling to breathe slightly." Merlin asked with concern.

Breathe! Breathe! He was struggling to think at the moment. The whole world seemed to be spinning and the only fixed thing was Catherine! Wait what he thinking? She was Merlin's sister! If he messed around with her it would mean jeopardising his friendship with Merlin! Only one thing for it. Play it cool. Shouldn't be too hard, he was the master of cool after all.

"I'm fine." He squeaked. Well done Gwaine he thought to himself, totally the master of cool. NOT!

Arthur decided it was probably just better to ignore Gwaine and his bazaar love struck antics for now, he would probably have to watch out later since Catherine had not been fooled by Gwaine's miserable attempts at hiding his impression of her, and now she seemed to be playing up to them for all she was worth without actually being too obvious.

"You know, I'm not sure Gwaine's brain will be able to cope with much more of you." He whispered to the still grinning girl and she swung back round so that she was facing forward again.

"I'm seeing how long it takes me to actually make him fall over."

Arthur noticed her eyes sparkle mischievously as she said that.

"Why?"

She shrugged in response.

"I have kind of a thing for cute guys who think their God's gift to women."

"Oh really?" Arthur laughed.

"Yer. I'm brilliant at showing them the truth." Catherine winked.

"And what would that be?"

"That actually females are God's gifts to men. But they have to earn us first." Arthur gawped at Catherine who now turned away from him and began to sing softly under her breath.

"Arthur?" Merlin called out. "Arthur!"

"What Merlin?" Arthur snapped.

"Did we have to bring all this junk?"

"_That_ Merlin is not junk! It is hunting equipment of the finest quality."

"Junk then." Merlin persisted. Sighing Arthur decided that ignoring Merlin as well as Gwaine may also prove to be beneficial.

"So how exactly are you two brother and sister. You're nothing alike."

Catherine stopped singing at Arthur's question and looked solemn for a moment.

"When I was five, my parents died in a fire. I lived in Ealdor at the time but my parents were not well liked and no one wanted to take in a child whose parents had been so unwelcome. Hunith took me in and looked after me, Merlin was born later that year."

"So you're not actually his sister by blood?" Arthur asked surprised.

"Does it matter if I share his blood? I still love him like my brother and he I like a sister."

It was Arthur's turn to shrug his shoulders.

"You just seem so close."

"Of course we are." Catherine laughed, "I lost my family once, I know how precious it is and that meant I appreciate Merlin and Hunith all the more."

Returning to her soft singing Catherine picked up her pace and moved further off down the path in front of the group, her voice catching in the wind and floating around them as if it belonged to the forest itself.

"She's always been a bit weird." Merlin admitted.

"Merlin you idiot. You're a bit weird." Arthur sighed.

"Hey! I..." A yelp of pain cut through Merlin's sentence as an arrow whizzed through the air and burrowed into the soft flesh at the top of his arm.

Catherine's song came to an abrupt end as she saw her baby brother sink the floor, blood seeping across his shirt sleeve and Arthur's hunting gear fall to the ground with a clatter.

"Merlin!" she screamed, her hand diving from the hilt of the dagger lodged in her boot and pulling it free.

Following suit Arthur, Gwaine, Lancelot and Elyan all drew their swords, their eyes flashing around them in search of their unknown attacker. The forest though had fallen silent. Completely.

"I don't like it when I can't hear birds singing." Arthur heard Catherine mutter darkly.

"Lancelot check on Merlin." Arthur commanded, the rest of them holding stock still in case of attack.

"Such a pretty Warlock, pretty, pretty, pretty. Such a lonesome Warlock, alone with me. Come here my little Warlock, come to me! You will see pretty Warlock. You will see."

The voice echoed around the deserted trees, dry and scratchy.

"What does it mean Warlock?" Elyan asked, his voice trying to hide his nerves.

"It's just an old rhyme." Catherine shot in quickly. "From before the great purge. It will just be some mad old crone."

"One who can shoot arrows pretty well." Gwaine commented, his gaze drifting towards where Merlin sat.

"Merlin?"

Lancelot shook the boys shoulder on the other side from the arrow wound gently.

"Merlin?"

"She's coming." Merlin's voice was tried and far away, as if he were struggling to stay awake.

"Lancelot is he O.K?" came Catherine's frightened voice.

"I don't know." He replied honestly.

"Merlin are you O.K?" he asked the swaying boy.

Slowly Merlin lifted his head to look at Lancelot.

"No." Suddenly Merlin's body hit the leafy floor with a soft thump and Catherine forward.

"Merlin! Wake up! Not here!" Shaking her brother she felt tears threaten to overwhelm her.

"We need to go now!" her voice was steady but scared. Arthur nodded in agreement.

"Here I'll carry him." Stepping forward Arthur heaved Merlin's unconscious body over his shoulder, a small whimper coming from it as the arrow wound was jolted. "Sorry Merlin." Arthur apologised.

"Just for once can we go out of Camelot and not have something go wrong?" Lancelot muttered,

"Where would be the fun in that sort of life Lance?" Gwaine replied darkly.

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	3. Chapter 3

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Three – updated 26/12/11

"I don't understand! Why would someone attack us like that and then just let us escape."

They had made it back to Camelot and were now in the physician's quarters where Gauis was seeing to the arrow still lodged in Merlin's shoulder.

"Maybe they just wanted to unnerve us?" Elyan suggested, watching Gwaine sceptically, who was hovering over Catherine as she held her brothers hand carefully. He seemed to be deciding whether or not to comfort her.

"But why? It still makes no sense."

Arthur dropped down onto a bench, the scene from the forest still whirling through his mind.

"Merlin's lucky." Gauis said taking the pause in the conversation to tell them all the extent of the damage.

"The wound is fairly superficial and apart from some blood loss which may weaken him for a few days he won't have anything other than a sore arm for a bit."

Both Elyan and Arthur nodded thankfully to Gauis while Catherine kissed her brother's hand gently and Gwaine managed a small smile of relief.

"Will he wake up soon then?" Catherine asked.

"Yes, soon enough. Don't let him move around too much though, the last thing we want is the stitches ripping. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a woman with a sick baby to go and visit in the lower town."

Gwaine rushed to open the door for Gauis, wanting to at least feel like he was there for some useful reason.

"You hear that baby brother. You're going to be fine." Catherine whispered to her unconscious brother.

Gwaine watched as Catherine stroked Merlin's hair lovingly.

A knock sounded from the other side of the door and a nervous looking servant poked his head inside the room.

"Excuse me sire?"

Arthur looked up at the servant, his face dark with what had obviously been deep thought.

"Yes?" he snapped causing the boy to cower slightly.

"Your U…uncle wants you to attend the council chambers immediately. Something about a witch in the outlying villages." The serving boy's eyes darted nervously around the room. Landing on the fierce looking girl who watched over Merlin protectively, her mahogany eyes latched onto his and she smiled comfortingly.

Arthur glanced at Merlin then back to the now slightly less awkward boy,

"I'll come and find you if he wakes up." Catherine promised him. "You should go before your Uncle gets suspicious. I somehow don't think he would see your manservant being incapacitated as a decent reason for not attending a meeting."

Arthur cast Merlin one last worried glance before hurrying out of the room past the serving boy. Lingering for a moment or two the serving boy soon followed suit and only Gwaine and Elyan were left with Catherine and Merlin.

"I'm afraid we also have duties that we must go and take care of." Elyan admitted causing Gwaine's face to fall.

"We could always..."

"No Gwaine we couldn't." Elyan said forcefully, "I'm sure the last thing Merlin wants to wake up to his you trying to hit on his sister and still failing."

"I was not trying to hit on his sister!" Gwaine protested, his face taking on the flaming red hue that was becoming an almost constant feature.

"Both of you go and do whatever it is Camelot's Knight do!" Catherine laughed, shaking her head at the pair of them. "I am more than capable of taking care of my brother on my own, and I would like to at least have five minutes to chat with him since that has been impossible since I arrived."

Still spluttering about not really having anything else he _had_ to do Gwaine found himself being dragged out of the room by Elyan, in perhaps what did not constitute a knightly manner.

"You have some strange friends, baby brother." Catherine whispered to the sleeping Merlin. "Strange but good friends."

Somewhere in the forest outside Camelot:

"I thought I said that I wanted him dead Herintha!" The man yelled. He was tall, perhaps not yet forty and with a thick head of black wavy hair that highlighted his acid green eyes.

"But she was there!" The old witch wined, she didn't like it when Thomas yelled at her. Why did he have to be so loud?

"Who could make it that you couldn't kill one DRAGON LORD!"

Thomas's explosive question was accompanied by the remaining wildlife around them taking fright and fleeing.

"The sister." She answered.

"He doesn't have a sister. He is an only child." Thomas groaned, this woman was beyond stupid at times.

"Not by blood no. But by love..." The words hung suggestively.

"An adoptive sister?"

"Yes!" The witch screeched clapping her withered hands in excitement.

"I don't see how this changed anything."

The witch glared at him for a moment.

"You never met the huntress did you?" It was a statement not a question and the witch's tone riled Thomas.

"Who?" he managed to grit out. Why hadn't he just strangled the woman when they first crossed paths? That would have saved him so much trouble.

"She's very pretty." The witch murmured suggestively. "She is also well known among some of the less well respected members of society."

"Get to the point witch!" he was losing his temper.

"If something happened to her 'Baby Brother' she would tear down cities to get her revenge."

Thomas's eyes lit up.

"Would she dare take on a Pendragon?"

"Thomas she would laugh in the face of a Pendragon and then destroy everything he had."

"Maybe you're not so useless after all witch."

The witch smiled smugly.

"However I do think you may have outlived your purpose."

The witch had barely had time to look confused before a sickening crack echoed through the trees and Thomas snapped her neck.

The body slumped to the floor.

"Never trust a Renwoor; it's always your undoing." he muttered, marching away from the withered corpse.

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	4. Chapter 4

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Four – updated 26/12/11

Catherine really had to start remembering not to fall asleep sitting up! Her back was killing from a night spent slouched against the patient's bed in Gaius's quarters and her neck felt as if the crick in it would never straighten out. Not yet bothering to open her eyes Catherine stretched, hearing her joints pop as she tried to removed some of the stiffness from another night's less than sensible sleeping position. Sleepily she managed to blink open her eyes, checking to see if Merlin was still asleep.

The sun streamed in onto an empty bed. Merlin was gone.

"Arthur!"

Bolting awake Arthur witnessed Catherine bursting into his chambers the doors flying open as she catapulted through them, her hair still mussed up from sleep and panic evident in her face.

"Catherine? What..."

"Is Merlin here?" she interrupted, barking the words at him.

"No. Why would Merlin be here? He's resting isn't he?" It was way too early in the morning to be trying to work out what the hell was going on.

"He's gone!" Arthur stared at the almost hysterical Catherine.

"Gone?"

"Gone. Vanished. Absconded! Do you not understand ENGLISH!"

Arthur attempted to back away from the screeching girl as best he could, which seeing as he had yet to actually get out of bed, meant it was a rather feeble attempt.

"He can't have gone far." Arthur tried to sooth her. Mysteries were bad enough in the morning but how was he meant to deal with desperate sisters of missing menservants? He had to admit Merlin's absence was slightly worrying; he would probably just be around the castle being clumsy as usual though.

"He's got an arrow wound in his arm and lost a substantial amount of blood yesterday! OF COURSE HE CAN'T HAVE GONE FAR YOU CLOTPOLE!"

Great, Arthur thought, Merlin must have mentioned that one to her.

"Just give me a minute of two to get dressed and I'll come and help you look." He sighed.

With a small bob of her head to indicate appreciation Catherine vanished back out of the door, pulling them closed behind her.

"Merlin had to have a sister even weirder than he was." Arthur sighed, dragging himself out of bed and crossing to the screen where his clothes were strewn from the day before.

Grabbing a blue shirt as he went he dressed quickly and made his way out of the room, his stomach growling at him in protest at a second day of missing breakfast.

Catherine was leaning against the wall opposite his bedroom doors, worry creasing her brow.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Yes, now let's find the idiot so I can have some breakfast."

Catherine shrugged.

"Might be a good thing for you, missing the odd meal I mean." Catherine teased

"What do you mean?"Arthur demanded, there was an annoying familiarity in those words.

"Well we don't want the Prince of Camelot becoming... well you know..." As if to demonstrate her point Catherine puffed out her cheeks.

"I am not fat!" Arthur exploded, causing a few servants who'd been hurrying passed to paused and stare at the Prince.

"I never said you were." Catherine laughed softly before looking serious again. "We should find Merlin."

"Right. We should... Hey wait up!" As soon as Arthur had stopped to think about where to start Catherine had rushed off, "Why does she have to be so damned fast?" he muttered running after her.

Groggily Merlin slowly became aware of where he was exactly; well he was aware that he was somewhere that is. He was hanging from... something, by a chain manacled to his wrists so that his feet just brushed the floor.

His arm was protesting loudly, the wound burning painfully so his eyes watered and Merlin suspected he would have black spots dancing across his vision if he could actually see anything in the pitch black room around him. The sound of water dripping loudly somewhere behind him, suggested he was underground.

"Where am I?" Merlin asked the darkness surrounding him. He couldn't see anyone else so he just had to hope that whoever had brought him here was listening.

"Nowhere important." The bodiless male voice replied.

Merlin had a nasty feeling that the voice was smiling.

"If it's not important then why can't you tell me?"

The voice didn't bother to answer Merlin's question.

"Will you at least tell me why I'm here?"

Merlin was trying to ignore the pain in his arm, but it was like fire burning up into his shoulder and across his chest. He had a feeling he was going to pass out in a minute or two and he at least wanted _some _answers before that happened.

"All will be revealed in good time young Dragon Lord." The voice chuckled again.

Thomas loved to watch them suffer; he stood on a balcony jutting out of the wall of the cylindrical room. He couldn't see Merlin since there was no light but he could hear the chains clinking softly as the weight beneath moved slightly.

"I don't know what you're talking about! The Dragon Lords all died!" Merlin said, panicking slightly.

Thomas listened to the boys desperate gabbling with half interest.

"Don't lie to me Merlin; I know that you are Balinor's son!" Thomas boomed.

"You're wrong!" he insisted.

The chains clanked nosily as Merlin struggled desperately against them, causing the pain in his arm to increase tenfold. His cry pierced the darkness, causing even Thomas to shudder.

Merlin's magic flared into life, sensing his pain sending him back into Oblivion.

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	5. Chapter 5

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Five – updated 25/12/11

They stopped just before dusk to set up camp. Catherine hadn't wanted to stop but it was starting to get dark and no one really thought that travelling through the forest in the pitch black would be the most sensible of ideas.

The search/rescue party had been formulated shortly after Arthur and Catherine had stumbled across a headachy looking Sir Leon who was rubbing a rather large lump on the back of his head. This lump turned out to be the result of a thick chunk of wood (he assumed) that someone had slogged him around the head with after he had approached two men carrying a suspicious bundle down an alleyway in the lower town. The 'suspicious bundle' had quite quickly turned out to be Merlin but before Sir Leon could raise the alarm someone had knock him out and he had only come to an hour or so before hand.

"Do you really think you should be here Leon?" Lancelot asked, "I mean you did just get smacked around the head pretty hard this morning."

"I allowed them to take Merlin in the first place. I owe him this; he did stand with us all in out fight for Camelot."

"He is always with us in our fights for Camelot." Arthur corrected him. He had only really been half paying attention to the conversation until now. "Gwaine."

"Yes Princess." The, for once oddly enough, sober knight replied.

"Go check if Catherine is alright."

Gwaine looked as if he was about to protest, but a sharp glance from Arthur quelled his retort.

"Fine." He muttered sauntering past Arthur towards the half hidden track that Catherine had wandered down a few moments before to collect firewood.

"Sir Leon." Arthur turned towards the man, "Go scout out the surrounding area, make sure that we haven't decided to camp right next to a group of bandits or something like that."

Sir Leon nodded and also vanished off into the forest leaving just Arthur, Lancelot and Elyan to set up camp. They hadn't told Gwen where they were going, or even that they _were_ going. She would have only wanted to come with them and Arthur was not putting her in any more danger than was absolutely necessary.

Catherine found herself envying the stream in front of her; all it had to do was follow the path set out for it. It was clear and simple, no deviations or decision, and no one else to make everything just that little bit more complicated. A screech caused her to look up; the silhouette of Hunter circling above, framed by the dusky, red sky. Raising her arm she braced as the familiar weight of the falcon settled on her forearm, its claws cushioned by the leather sleeve that Catherine always wore while travelling.

"I don't suppose you know where he is?" she asked the bird as it preened its feathers.

"I'm not sure he could tell you even if he had." Gwaine answered instead. Catherine didn't jump at the voice behind her.

"You should work out your stalking Gwaine. I could hear you from a mile off."

"Really? I thought I was quite adept at silent movement."

"No doubt your normally too blitzed to tell if you're making noise or not." Catherine joked, her chest too tight with fear to really feel like laughing.

"We will find him you know."

Catherine turned to look at him. There was something in the way he was gazing at her, not something she was entirely that used to seeing.

"Your being honest." She whispered in surprise.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Gwaine asked quizzically. Catherine shrugged.

"I don't know. Just not many people are. Honest that is."

Stepping forward Gwaine cupped her beautiful face in his hands, staring into her mahogany coloured eyes.

"I would never lie to you." He promised.

"No." She agreed. "I don't think you would."

"Aw crap!" Gwaine cursed, reeling back shaking his hand in pain. "What is up with the demon bird?"

Catherine found herself spluttering with laughter as Gwaine brought his hand closer to his face for examination.

"Are you O.K?" Catherine gasped, struggling for air because she was laughing too much.

"It bit me!" Gwaine protested, staring at his wound as if he wasn't quite sure how it had got there. "It actually bit me!"

"Well I think peaked would perhaps be a more technical term for what actually just happened."

"Screw technically, that thing is vicious."

"He probably thought you were going to kiss me. Hunter doesn't like people getting too close to me. He still gets grumpy when I hug Merlin and he's my brother." Catherine sighed stroking the falcon's head sadly.

"I was going to kiss you." Admitted Gwaine, "I thought it would be really romantic until your 'Dad' stuck his beak in!"

Smiling at him Catherine stepped closer to Gwaine. "If he bites me again you'll be wondering why there are feather's in your supper." He warned.

"You wouldn't be able to catch him."

Before Gwaine could answer Catherine caught his lips with hers, managing to remove any form of half thought from his brain.

"Wow..." he mumbled as she broke away. "That was..."

"We should get back to camp."

Blinking Gwaine saw that Catherine was already walking back towards the others, Hunter still perched on her arm but now shaking his tail feathers in what Gwaine could only assume to be an insulting manner, back in his direction.

"Stupid bird." He growled.

Arthur raised his hand in recognition as Catherine wandered back into camp, a falcon perched on her arm and Gwaine following her from a significant distance and watching the falcon as if it were about to take flight and claw his eyes out.

"Watch out for the demon bird." He hissed as he passed Arthur.

"Arthur!" Directing his attention away from the new addition to the group and Gwaine's slightly weird warning Arthur saw that Leon had obviously got back from scouting.

"Any bandits?"

"Yes, but only two. Nothing to really worry about. But they were having a rather interesting conversation."

"Let me guess." Gwaine interrupted. "They were talking about a certain bar maid in a tavern 300 yards north west of here, with the largest..."

Gwaine stopped when he saw the glare he was getting from Catherine.

"Tankard collection you'll find anywhere?" he finished hopefully.

"Tankard collection. Of course Gwaine." Catherine scoffed, "I've been in that tavern. Glenda had huge breasts we get it." Turning away from the Knight Catherine diverted all her attention to Sir Leon.

"Um well..." Leon mumbled, what had he been saying? "They were talking about some guy called Thomas, a really powerful sorcerer, or at least thinks he is. Anyway, he's meant to have acquired the last Dragon Lord just today. He was chuckling about how, 'It was Arthur Pendragon's manservant, and can you believe Uther had the last Dragon Lord under his nose the entire time.' They then went on to be quite insulting about your father Sire but that's best not repeated I think."

Catherine's face blanched.

"But we never told anyone!" she spluttered,

Arthur rounded on her.

"What do you mean? This isn't true is it?"

Catherine felt her mouth moving but no words came out. Swallowing she managed to find her voice again, fear working its way into her vocal cords as she spoke.

"I knew that Balinor was his father but we never told Merlin, I mean we didn't think, it was just..." she shuddered to a halt, her face pale and scared. "Arthur he'd never lie to you on purpose." Catherine pleaded.

Arthur looked as if he was going to explode.

"Merlin watched Balinor die!" he thundered

Catherine jerked as if she'd been slapped by the force of Arthur's roar.

"I..."

"You had no right to keep that information from him! Now you are going to explain to me exactly what is going on and who Merlin is! Right now Catherine!"

"I was protecting him!" she screamed back at Arthur. "I don't know you Arthur Pendragon. How am I supposed to trust you when for all I am aware, you may turn around and do just as your father would and have someone burned just because of what they are born into!"

"I know Merlin!" Arthur's anger boiled over. "I would never judge him on his family or what he was born with. He is Merlin and he's idiotically loyal! I would never betray him and I'm not my father!"

The forest descended into a brittle silence.

"We'll see about that Pendragon." Catherine spat, turning her back on the furious Prince.

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	6. Chapter 6

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Six – updated 27/12/11

The entire group stared in shock at Arthur at Catherine, Hunter of course was still eyeballing Gwaine who was making sure that he gave the creature a wide berth.

"What do you mean by; we'll see about that?" Arthur hissed, his head spinning with the mass of information that he had just been bombarded with.

"I mean that Pendragons do not have a very good track record when it comes to anything involving magic!" Catherine spat back, her words laced with venom.

"I'm not my father! This is Merlin we're talking about; he's too much of an idiot to be evil! Don't you think I would have realised that!" The idea of Merlin being evil was just ridiculous. It was just so... so... un-Merlin.

Catherine was by this point shaking with fury, how dare Arthur, judge something which he could not possibly hope to comprehend.

"Don't call my baby brother an idiot, and what if it wasn't Merlin?" she demanded.

"What if what wasn't Merlin?" Came the sharp response from Arthur, annoyed that something so huge had been kept from him.

"What if the Last Dragon Lord was someone you didn't know? Would you still give them the benefit of the doubt then?"

Arthur stared back in a stunned silence.

"I..." he struggled to answer. What would he do if it wasn't Merlin, just someone he didn't know? Would he condemn them just because his father thought that who they were made them evil.

"See!" Catherine choked, hot tears starting to slide down her cheeks. Angrily she scrubbed them away with the back of her hand, only her brother could make her cry. She refused to appear weak in front of this prattish Prince. "You don't have to _be_ your father to be tainted by his hatred!"

"This is different!" he was back to yelling. How could she even think about throwing her brother in amongst sorcerers? This was a completely different situation! Merlin was born with this he didn't choose it!

"How is it different?" Catherine demanded. Your father hunted Balinor in the same way that he would hunt anyone else who was suspected of using magic.

"That was his mistakes not mine! I wouldn't do that to someone who couldn't choose what they were! It should be about how they use that not what it is!" Arthur felt as if he were about to throw up. _Uther_ had essentially been responsible for Merlin growing up without a father. How was he supposed to deal with that, how was Merlin going to ever be able to trust him when it was Arthur's family who had torn his apart?

"Are you telling me Arthur?" Catherine pressed on, "That you would betray Uther, your Father, _you're King_! For a manservant?"

Arthur bit back his reply. Looking at Catherine he saw there was desperation in her tearstained face, she wasn't challenging him she was searching for some sort of hope in Arthur that would reassure her, a promise that he would keep her little brother safe. She was simply trying to do what she always did when it came to Merlin, protect her family.

Striding forward Arthur caught hold of Catherine's arm and spun her round to face him.

"I always protect my friends." He said, fixing her gaze with his own.

For a second Arthur though that she was going to claim he was lying and leap forward to attack him but instead her stance shifted and her features softened slightly.

"If you go back on your word Pendragon you will have to deal with me. Now while my baby brother would follow you to his death and accept anything that you say I will not. Betray him and I will kill you, even if it means Merlin will hate me for the rest of eternity. There is nothing I will not do to keep him safe."

Her words hung in the air after she said them, the rest of the group stood rigidly, waiting for Arthur's reply.

"There is nothing anyone can say or do, that will make me betray Merlin."

Catherine smiled at Arthur.

"I hope you don't change your mind Pendragon."

"Why would I?" Arthur asked confused again.

"Some secrets should only be told by those that they belong to." She answered cryptically.

"You know you sound a little bit like Merlin does." Arthur joked, "He's always coming out with random pieces of information that make no sense whatsoever."

"He's wiser than you give him credit for." Catherine said softly.

Arthur could only watch bemused at her words as she turned away and beckoning Gwaine to come and help her prepare the food. Stumbling after her Gwaine shot Arthur a look that implied he was also completely at a loss to what was going on and Arthur quickly made the decision that when they got Merlin back, because they were going to get him back, he was going to find out everything there was to know about what now appeared to be his less than open book of a manservant.

"Hello again sister." Morgana said to the pile of rocks which covered his sister's grave. There was no headstone, but each day since Morgause's death, Morgana had visited to place fresh flowers above where her sister's body lay.

"Morgana?" A young boy asked inside Morgana's mind suddenly. The witch jumped, she was still getting use to the idea that sorcerers could project their voices into each other's minds.

"Modred! You scared me." The young boy shrugged at her disapproving voice before moving closer. Leaning against her side he let her stroke him hair in a motherly fashion.

"She's not coming back Morgana." He whispered using his voice this time. "Coming here every day will not bring her back."

"I know." Morgana sobbed, pulling Modred closer, he had sought her out a few months ago, shortly after the whole Camelot fiasco. "But I just need to work out what I'm going to do now."

Modred remained silent for a few moments, deciding if he should tell Morgana the news that he had just obtained.

"Arthur is in the forest just outside of Camelot with some of his Knights." He felt Morgana tense beside him but pushed on anyway. "I heard that his manservant had been kidnapped."

"Why would anyone care about Merlin? He's just a pestering idiot." Morgana scoffed, her insides searing at the memory of how Merlin always seemed to foul all of her plots against Camelot! Modred shrugged again.

"People will always be interested in the son of Balinor, especially since the Great Dragon is still alive and now free."

Morgana stared down at the child resting at her side.

"But Arthur killed the Great Dragon!" she cried, wait, she thought, why was this bit the part she was disbelieving. "And how can Merlin be the son of a Dragon lord! It's just so... Actually it explains quite a lot." She admitted.

"He's probably dead by now anyway so I doubt it really matters." Modred said, reverting back to speaking in Morgana's mind.

"I thought that you said people were interested in him." Morgana preferred to actually hear her own voice when she spoke. "Surely whoever took him will just sell him off to the highest bidder as a weapon?" It stunned Morgana how quickly she had managed to accept this revelation about Merlin. But... she and Merlin had been friends once she thought. She had told him about her magic... Why hadn't he told her this? Why had he not trusted her when she had trusted him?

"The rumour is that he is being held by a man named Thomas Renwoor." Modred explained. "His parents died when he was young and he has always blamed the Dragon Lords apparently. If he has taken Emrys, he's taken him to kill him."

"Wait!" Morgana jumped in. "Who's Emrys?"

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	7. Chapter 7

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Seven – 27/12/11

The next morning it seemed that an unspoken agreement not to mention the previous evening's events had been formed between the members of Merlin's search/recue party. Arthur took the lead, his face creased with what appeared to be deep thought. Gwaine rode behind him but kept glancing back to stare at Catherine, and Hunter who was perched on the head of Catherine's horse kept screeching at Gwaine to make sure that everyone noticed exactly what the Knight was up to.

"What do you think Arthur will do when he finds out about Merlin's magic?" Lancelot asked in a whispered voice, leaning in closely so that no one would overhear them.

"What?" Catherine snapped, shocked at Lancelot's question and almost falling out of her saddle in surprise. Merlin hadn't said that anyone else knew about his magic! "Merlin doesn't have magic!" The lie came so easily, Lancelot may have even believed her if he hadn't seen Merlin do magic for himself.

"Catherine, it's O.K, I know." He soothed, he didn't want her to think that he was about to hand Merlin over to be burnt at the stake. "I saw him kill a griffin. Or more accurately, he helped me kill a griffin."

Catherine stared back at Lancelot blankly.

"My baby brother killed a griffin?"

"Amongst other things." Lancelot admitted.

"What do you mean amongst other things?" she demanded, the pitch of her voice jumping a few octaves and causing Hunter to give a small screech of protest at the noise.

"Oh come on!" Gwaine yelled. "I barely flinched my head you stupid bird!"

Ignoring Gwaine Lancelot realised that he may have just accidentally put his foot in it and got Merlin into a lot of trouble with his sister.

"You mean that Merlin didn't tell you about the griffin, or Gwen being kidnapped when she was mistaken for Morgana, or Morgana using the Cup of Life to raise an immortal army?" he asked experimentally. This though was apparently the completely wrong thing to say to Catherine.

"When we find my brother." Catherine stated purposefully so that everyone could hear her in the group. "No one goes near him until I'm quite finished beating the crap out of him for not telling me exactly how much trouble he's been getting in or by the sounds of it, risking his neck on stupid harebrained schemes such as fighting off immortal armies! Camelot was meant to keep him out of harm's way! Not encourage him to run full pelt into it!"

"I think you'll find the encouraging was mainly done by Arthur." Elyan supplied in what he must have assumed was a helpful voice but suppressing a smirk all the same. This was why he did not tell Gwen when he got into scraps. Sisters had a habit of blowing things like near death experiences way out of proportion.

Very aware that even Arthur was now looking at him Lancelot adopted an expression of suitable guilt.

"I was just asking a question." He protested as four pairs of eyes rounded on him.

"We are meant to be rescuing Merlin." Gwaine told him. "Not dropping him so far in it with his sister that she kills him when we find him."

"Well how was I meant to know that he doesn't tell his sister about things like Morgana raising an immortal army? It's not something easily glossed over in normal society I find!"

"I can just imagine it now." Gwaine joked, turning his gaze up towards the sky in a dreamlike manner. "Five in the morning when the sun has yet to rise, I'm probably passed out somewhere from the night before and unable to play the dashing hero that I normally am and Arthur wakes to find a Blade pressed to his throat and a demented Catherine standing over him holding it. Demanding to know exactly how he had managed to almost get her little brother killed yet again."

Lancelot noticed Arthur's hand stray to his throat momentarily as if the ghost of a knife was already at his jugular.

"Basically Lancelot, I'm guessing that Merlin realised Arthur would eventually get tired of having an avenging angel descending on Camelot and him at regular intervals." Gwaine finished by casting the now glowering Catherine what was supposed to be an appreciative look.

"Um Gwaine?" Elyan murmured. "I think the blade is going to be at your throat at this rate."

Gwaine's face paled under the sharp glare coming from Catherine.

"I think I'll just shut up for a bit." He whimpered, turning away from the death stare.

"Best idea you've had so far today Gwaine." Arthur said.

Morgana kicked the lifeless body of Thomas Renwoor with a sour disinterest. Allowing herself a moment to linger on the fear she had seen in those now glassy eyes as he had realised that he was going to die.

"Found him." Modred's voice sounded in Morgana's mind.

"Where?" she asked, trying to search for Modred's location in the ruined castle where Thomas had been hiding out using her mind.

"Dungeons." Came the answer. Obviously, Morgana though sourly, where else would you keep a prisoner.

Sweeping past the corpse she quickly found where Modred was. He had severed the chain holding Merlin off the ground and now the young Warlock/Dragon Lord was in a crumpled heap on the floor. Morgana's breath caught in her throat. She hated Merlin but... it seemed that there wasn't a part of him that Thomas hadn't covered in cuts and bruises and the result was that Merlin was hardly recognisable. The goofy manservant was now a broken pile of limbs covered in rags. One of his legs was stuck out at an odd angle and the rise and fall of his chest was worryingly shallow and strained.

"So this is the great Emrys?" Morgana's voice reverberated off the curved walls of the cell. Even more harsh and hollow with each echo.

"Those runes in the manacles dampen his power," Modred informed her, pointing to the heavy iron cuffs with crudely etched symbols scrawled across them.

"Dampens? So he still has access to his magic?"

"Some." The child admitted. "Not enough to be a threat though."

It still amazed Morgana how someone so young could know so much about the world her magic while herself seemed completely ignorant at times. With a wave of his hand two of what had been Cenred's guards seemingly materialised besides Modred and quickly moved forward to grab Merlin.

"Whatever you do, do not remove those manacles!" Morgana warned them sternly. "I do not want to test how powerful a legendary warlock can be today! Even if he is injured."

The guards bowed respectfully to both Morgana and Modred before hoisting Merlin into the air between them. The young warlock didn't make a sound.

"Are you sure he is still alive?" Morgana inquired sceptically as the guards vanished back up a set of stairs with Merlin in tow.

"Barely, but for now yes." Modred reassured her.

"Good. I've a little scavenger hunt in mind for Arthur and it just wouldn't be the same without Merlin."

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	8. Chapter 8

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Eight – updated 27/12/11

Taverns were not Catherine's favourite place in the world and right now she found herself hating them more than usual. On Gwaine's suggestion they had all stopped at some run down hovel of a building that claimed on the sign outside to be The Knight's Pig. Personally Catherine thought that this was perhaps the most ridiculous name for a tavern that anyone could think of but she had reached the point at clutching at straws in the hope of finding her baby brother.

As the evening wore on though, Catherine found herself wondering if perhaps Gwaine had not just chosen to visit the tavern to catch up on any local gossip but to flirt with anything remotely pretty that crossed his path while downing pint after pint of ale.

"Are you alright Catherine?" Lancelot asked, setting down another tankard of ale in front of the scowling female.

"She's planning the most painful way she can to kill Gwaine by the looks of it." Arthur informed him cheerfully, managing some form of joke in his worried state.

Arthur let out a loud groan as he slammed into the floor and Catherine retracted her foot from where she had hooked it under the leg of Arthur's seat in order to yank it out from beneath him.

"Was that really called for?" Lancelot asked sceptically.

Lancelot's question was answered with perhaps the most terrifying look that he had ever received. Prising her dagger out of her boot Catherine began to twist it experimentally between her fingers, without removing her gaze from where Gwaine stood chatting up one of the barmaids.

Stupid twonk, she thought, she was much prettier than any silly barmaid.

"Catherine you do realised he's just seeing if this Thomas Renwoor passed through the local area or not? Right?"

Elyan's question was answered when Gwaine leaned in to whisper in the barmaid's ear and there was a resounding thunk as the dagger that Catherine had previously been holding lodged itself in the wall a few centimetres above Gwaine's head. The barmaid turned a shade of green and quickly vanished back off behind the bar leaving Gwaine standing on his own.

"Really Catherine!" he yelled cheekily across the room. "Someone might get hurt if you carry on with that sort of behaviour!"

"I think that was the point." Elyan muttered into his drink, earning him the death glare off Catherine as well. "Hey! Gwaine is the one you're mad at, not me!" he spluttered.

Yanking the dagger out of the wall Gwaine sauntered back over to the table where the rest of the group sat, lodging the blade safely in his belt.

"That's mine!" Catherine protested.

"Then I'll give it back when I'm sure that you're not going to throw it at me again." Gwaine reassured her, flashing her his patented grin.

"Did you find anything out?" Arthur jumped in, hoping to diffuse the situation before someone ended up dead. He really did not want to get involved in another bar fight, or even just a fight between Catherine and Gwaine.

"_Hannah_" Gwaine replied, emphasizing the barmaid's name as Catherine turned at deeper shade of purple and a vein on her forehead began to throb. "Mentioned that our dear old Thomas was found dead a couple of days ago in the ruins of a castle close to here. She also said that a traveller claimed to see the Lady Morgana and a young boy lurking around the same area."

"So instead of my baby brother being held hostage by some physco, he's now being held prisoner by some physco bitch with magic and a kid!"

"You know your face just went from purple to white in less than a second." Gwaine pointed out smiling slightly.

"Ignore him, he's drunk." Arthur interrupted as Gwaine took another swig of ale. "We will get him back Catherine, don't worry."

"This Hannah didn't happen to mention where exactly Morgana went did she?" Lancelot asked, spotting the tell tale signs that indicated Gwaine was about to pass out.

"Northwest." He managed to slur before falling off his seat and into an unconscious heap on the floor.

"Northwest it is then." Arthur sighed waving for the barmaid to come over. "A pitcher of ice cold water." He demanded.

"Morgana?" Merlin rasped in shock. The room around him was dimly lit by candles, but he could tell he was lying across something soft a comfortable, his head supported by a pile of pillows stacked beneath it.

"Don't move." Morgana ordered, ignoring Merlin's confused gaze as she adjusted the gauze she had been wrapping around his midriff. "I don't want to have to call the guards to reset your leg again; it took long enough the first time."

Merlin found himself gaping dumbly as Morgana's hands ran across his skin, muttering the odd spell to try and speed up the healing of some of the worse injuries as she went. It was odd watching her take such care, and somewhere in his still hazy mind, Merlin wondered if whoever had kidnapped him had beaten him into a catatonic state and the whole scene was just a hallucination.

"I'm sorry." He murmured, the warmth from the room making him sleepy and exhaustion still pulling him back towards sleep. Morgana jerked slightly in surprise, knocking against one of Merlin's broken ribs with her hand. Pain flared across his chest and stomach, wrenching a howl from Merlin's lips as he tried to curl in on himself hoping to end the pain. Firm hands on his shoulders forced him to stay still and Morgana's face hovered over Merlin's, waiting for the boy to calm again.

Gasping slightly, Merlin stared into the emerald eyes floating above him, a flash of concern crossed them and Merlin felt a small smile tug at the corners of his lips.

"You're smiling?" Morgana stated, confused by the reaction but putting it down to the fever that was heating his skin as she spoke.

"I can still see you." Merlin chuckled weakly before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness again, his cheek glistening as a tear wove its way down his face.

Morgana knew that she should let go of his shoulders once Merlin had settled, but something kept her fingers resting against his flushed skin.

"What?" she choked, suddenly horribly lonely in the dim room. It was one of the smaller rooms in Cenred's castle, unused for a long time but close to her own chambers. She had told herself that it made sense for her to try and heal Merlin, since dead bait is near enough useless, but honestly she had no idea why she was helping the person who had poisoned her.

"Morgana?" Modred called, his voice echoing in her mind from somewhere in the lower floors of the castle.

"Coming." She responded, trying to sound cheerful for the child who was in her care. "Just give me a moment."

Pulling away from Merlin she felt an overwhelming guilt drape itself across her, causing her to gasp and slip sideways from the bed. The sense vanished as she crashed to the floor, disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared. It had not been her own guilt though, for a moment it had felt that way but somehow she knew that she had managed to pull Merlin's own guilt around herself. Merlin's guilt over her, and that thought shook her heart painfully.

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	9. Chapter 9

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Nine – updated 27/12/11

Catherine spotted Morgana pacing along the castle ramparts, the woman's hands clenched tightly within each other and far too distracted to notice a single figure approaching the main gate under the cover of dusk.

Arthur had finally conceded to allow Catherine to go alone, or rather, been beaten into acceptance by Catherine who was still refusing to explain how she knew the entire layout of Cenred's castle, or the majority of the old guards from the dead King's reign.

"You just happened across the knowledge for no apparent reason?" Arthur asked sceptically, watching Catherine sort through a dangerous collection of knives.

"There was reason." She answered cryptically.

"What then?" Arthur demanded, aware that the rest of the knights had backed off and were refusing to involve themselves in the interrogation.

"Just because my brother stays on the straight and narrow, doesn't mean I do." Catherine sighed with some annoyance, finally swinging a long raw-hide coat around her shoulder and heading off towards the castle.

"You're a criminal!" Arthur yelled after her, only really slightly shocked,

"I'm more than one thing Pendragon." Catherine sang back, disappearing between the trees so quickly that Arthur realised he had no idea where she now was.

Turning her focus back towards what she was meant to be doing Catherine ran a sceptical eye across the outside walls of what was left of Cenred's legacy, a crumbling half ruin of a castle and a few straggling guards dotted on the more stable sections of wall.

"I know that face." One of the guards of the gate chuckled gruffly, noticing the figure approaching him from the edge of the forest. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Hello Henry." Catherine crooned, pouring as much seduction into the words as she could. "Did you miss me?" She had learnt very early on that men on watch got bored, and a pretty face could weasel almost anything out of them, with just a little persuasion and acting.

"If you're here for Cenred Huntress, I'm afraid you're too late. One of the witches killed him a few months ago."

Catherine laughed musically,

"I think Cenred made it clear that he never wanted to see me again, don't you agree?"

A grin flashed beneath Henry's bearded face, she knew she'd got him from the moment he'd called out to her, he never could resist telling Catherine everything in the hope she would be appreciative of his devotion. It didn't matter how much she strung him along, he still kept following, and it made a change from simply using fear to get what she wanted.

"You know he wouldn't have been able to see that threat through Milady." He teased.

"How many times do I have to tell you Henry?" Catherine sighed theatrically, "I'm not a Lady by any means, and I hear they are meant to be horribly well behaved, so very boring."

The sound of chuckling filled the arched gateway into the main castle, allowing Catherine to lean in a remove the one of the keys from his belt without Henry noticing, slipping it into her coat just as he finished laughing, wiping a few tears from his eyes as he did so.

"It has been dull without you around." He said cheerfully, "But are you going to tell me why you're lurking around now?"

"Never could get anything by you Henry." Catherine teased, stepping back and raising her hands in mock surrender. "I'm only after a little information though." She whispered, leaning in slightly so that her hair fell around her face. She knew very well that Henry's eye line had just dropped, and with it so would of his guard.

"Uh, huh." George replied slowly, fighting against Catherine's allure and failing. He liked the girl, he really did, but stories got back about what she got up to during her travels, and he wouldn't put it past her to stick a knife in his gut at a moment's notice. "About what?"

"There was a boy earlier." Catherine told him, pulling out a small pouch from her pocket and bouncing it in the palm of her hand, the sound of coins falling against one another attracting George's full attention.

"Raven hair? Kind of skinny looking?" he grunted, his gaze switching between Catherine's chest and the bag of money. "Fairly beaten up as well?" He threw the last one in without really thinking, the kid had been in pretty bad shape when he'd seen him. There was probably a good chance that he hadn't even lasted the first night, but he wasn't about to scupper his chances of a little extra gold that early on in the game.

He didn't notice Catherine swallow painfully, the bribe settling in her hand and her jaw tensing as she cursed who ever had killed Thomas Renwoor before she could get her hands on him.

"That would be the one." She forced out, pushing her acting skills to the limit as she attempted to appear unfazed by the idea that Merlin was in bad shape. "You wouldn't happen to know where he was taken, would you?"

"Inside the castle." George told her, reaching out for the pouch of coins. Catherine snatched them back quickly, curling her fingers around the soft leather and shaking her head in a flirtatious manner.

"Not just yet." She teased, her patients waning slightly. "Where in the castle was he taken?"

Appearing conflicted for a moment George's face crumpled,

"I didn't see for myself." He whispered, worried about being overheard. "But some of the men were talking earlier about how it's strange for the Lady Morgana to have put the prisoner so close to her own rooms, and not down in the dungeons."

"How close?" Catherine asked, a small flare of hope burning in her chest as she latched onto the nugget of information.

George shook his head,

"I couldn't say, I don't get posted that far into the castle. The Lady Morgana has her own private set of guards, these ones only knew because they'd brought the boy in and she'd had them help set his leg or something like that."

Catherine remained silent for a moment, mulling the information over in her mind.

"Thank you George." she smiled, "You've been most helpful."

"You're not going to do something stupid are you?" he asked nervously, stashing the purse of coins she'd just dropped into palm away in his tunic. "You have a habit of doing stupid things with random bits of information."

Winking Catherine left his question unanswered and spun on her heels.

"Huntress?" he yelled.

"Goodbye George!" Catherine laughed, "Stay safe now!"

A cold chill ran down the guard's spine. He'd didn't want to be on watch tonight, the Huntress was back, and he'd seen the way her jaw twitched. Not once had the Huntress lost control, even when Cenred had been at his most trying, yet somehow the skinny scrap of a boy had her visibly angry. He'd be surprised if any of the castle was left by dawn.

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	10. Chapter 10

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Ten – updated 27/12/11

The bitter night air had finally forced Morgana off the castle walls and back towards her own chambers, her hand drifting along the cold blocks that made up the corridors as she wandered quietly down them. Modred was already asleep, safe and warm in his own chambers which were on the opposite side of the castle, and there would be a roaring fire heating her own rooms when she got to them.

She knew that most of the servants didn't like her, they hadn't liked Cenred but he had been their master, and Morgana was simply the sister of the woman who had murdered him. They tolerated her presence within the castle, and she was expected to accept that or nothing at all, it made existence lonely to say the least.

For some reason Morgana found herself pausing outside Merlin's room, well the room she had placed him in while he recovered. The door was slightly ajar, the light from the burning torches casting a slice of orange across the darkened room beyond and falling over the sleeping boy's face. His fever had lessened, but the infection in some of the wounds meant he was still warmer than he should be, exhaustion hampering his recovery.

Pushing the door open a little further Morgana made her way into the room, letting the door shut slightly behind her and lighting a few of the candles with a soft whisper. As if sensing the magic which had just swirled around the room Merlin moaned slightly, tossing in his sleep and clenching the sheets in his hands.

Sinking into the low chair beside the bed Morgana watched the Warlock, confident that he wouldn't wake until morning due to the sleeping potion she'd slipped into his water earlier. He'd refused it when she'd offered the first time, but she had seen the bags under his eyes, and once again had busied herself with the lie that it was simply to keep him alive to bait Arthur later on. It worried her though, she didn't want Merlin to be sick, she was tired of him suffering. It hurt that he'd betrayed her, but the bitterness was starting to wear away a little, the irritating voice in the back of her mind reminding her how she had betrayed Camelot first.

"And I would have died if you kept the poison from Morgouse." She whispered softly, carding her hand through Merlin's hair as she remembering how her sister had spat about the impertinent manservant trying to barter with her. Merlin's hadn't meant to be cruel; it was just how fate had forced him to act. Shuddering Morgana tried to push the thought from her mind, annoyed at how Merlin had managed to worm his way back into her heart even though he wasn't even awake.

"Darkness needs light to be whole." A cold voice drawled from somewhere behind her. "Without one the other is incomplete, people have a strange way of interpreting fate sometimes though."

Leaping to her feet Morgana scoured the shadows for the mysterious speaker, her fear spiking as she failed to pick out anyone lurking in the darkness.

"Who's there?" she demanded, aware that she had grabbed hold of Merlin's hand for comfort. "Where are you?"

The disembodied voice cackled darkly, the sound bouncing of the walls and hiding the origin.

"Be glad you can't see me witch. You may not survive if you could."

Thomas knew he was toying with the dark haired beauty; he had no intention of letting her live. She had messed up his original plans almost completely, and he now had to re-think everything. It did almost seem a shame to end something quite so exquisite though, so the idea of playing a small game with her mind made things all the more interesting, and perhaps less wasteful.

"Do you know who I am?" Morgana choked, hoping she sounded more confident to the ears of the intruder than she did to herself. "Do you know what I am capable of?"

"Mere party tricks." Thomas scoffed, enjoying the terror that was resonating from Morgana, "Your powers are untrained and near to useless, you have no clue what you are doing. The boy on the other hand could cause a threat, but you were kind enough to leave his powers bound for me."

Morgana glanced down at the manacles around Merlin's wrists, there was no chain between them anymore, but they were still curled around his flesh.

"This is almost too easy." Thomas sighed, stepping forward slightly,

"Forbærne! Ácwele" Morgana yelled desperately.

Thomas stumbled back slightly, hissing as the flesh across his chest seared and charred slightly. If he's still been mortal the hit would have killed him, but all it did now was cause mild discomfort.

With a roar he crossed the room, wrapping his hands around the witch's neck and lifting her into the air.

The sound of her strangled gasps filled the air, her legs kicking at her attacker in a desperate attempt to dislodge his hold. Thomas let out a small chuckle as he felt Morgana's fight weaken, and saw her eyes starting to droop.

Morgana felt the attacker's hands rip away from her throat, his bulk suddenly flying away from her and slamming into the wall on the opposite side of the room before sliding into a heap on the floor.

"Morgana?"

Gulping down shuddering breaths Morgana saw Merlin just managing to pull himself up onto his elbows, his eyes fading from gold into their normal blue.

"That's not possible." She gasped, her voice rasping, "The manacles!"

Dragging himself from the bed Merlin staggered towards her, leaning heavily against the wall.

"I don't know how." He admitted, though he was feeling the effects of having his magic dampened. What should have been a simple spell had drained him more than normal, and in his current state that would probably turn out to be a very bad thing. "We need to go, I doubt he'll stay down for long."

Morgana nodded, scrabbling to her feet and wrapping her arm around Merlin to help him towards the door. There should be guards just down the corridor; if she could get to them they may stand a chance.

The heap by the wall shifted. Groaning Thomas tried to shake the dizziness from his mind, focusing on the two sorcerers. The boy had magic! And lots of it! Growling he pulled at the power building in his chest, never mind using the boy to bring down the Pendragon's as well, he wanted the Dragon Lord dead now!

"Morgana!" Merlin cried, noticing the change in the intruder. "Move!"

Morgana was flung sideways as a mass of black magic thundered towards them. Merlin's instinct kicked in, his magic humming in his veins and fighting against the bindings that were dampening his powers. The golden shield seemed to burst out of his, passing harmlessly through Morgana and crashing into the black magic and Thomas.

There was a scream and then silence.

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	11. Chapter 11

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Eleven – updated 27/12/11

Catherine had started sprinting towards the castle as soon as she had seen the explosion of gold light.

"Catherine!" Gwaine yelled, hot on her heels as she darted through the remains of Cenred's castle, scrabbling over the rubble to get to where the explosion had come from.

"Where is she going?" Arthur shouted, his sword in hand ready to do battle with whichever sorcerer they came across first. He'd never seen so much magic, never mind the sort of power that it took to destroy a whole citadel.

The golden light had begun to dim and the group could just make out a figure standing in the centre of it, dressed in a pair of loose trousers and a mop of black hair messily standing on end in places.

"Merlin?" Arthur whispered, watching as the last of the golden light retracted into his manservant, dropping them all into darkness.

"Of for…" Catherine's curse was cut off half way through, and a torch flared into life. Waving it erratically from side to side she scoured the ruins for her baby brother, heading for the area he'd been standing in before. A soft thump sent them all scrambling towards the same spot, the flames from the torch falling across Merlin's unconscious face.

"He has magic." Arthur muttered quietly, finding all the mysteries that had seemed to surround him since Merlin's arrival slotting into place. "He has magic." He repeated, the shock wearing off and a little hysteria making its way into his voice.

Catherine didn't notice the Prince stumble away into the darkness; passing her torch to Gwaine she was busy examining her brother, checking that his injuries weren't too serious. Elyan managed to find some spare wood and started to build a fire, allowing Catherine a little more light to work by before he moved back towards their camp to collect their belongings and move them down to the ruins. He doubted Catherine would want to move Merlin tonight, and she would need the supplies they had brought to look after him properly.

The Prince wandered away from the rest of the group, his head was spinning and he was aware he was clutching the hilt of his sword more tightly than necessary. What was he planning to do? He wondered, was he going to run Merlin through? Everything his father had taught him told him that magic was evil; those who practised magic wanted nothing but destruction and pain.

"Arthur?"

Lancelot's voice rang out behind the Prince, it struck him that the Knight must have followed him away from the ruins.

"Arthur you have to come back." Lancelot pleaded, unable to clearly make out Arthur's outline in the darkness. "It doesn't look good, Merlin's in a bad way."

Remaining silent Arthur sank down into the grass and sat with his sword resting in front of him.

"Is my father wrong?" he asked, knowing the Knight was still standing behind him. "Does magic make you evil?"

"How can you even think Merlin's is evil Arthur!" Lancelot asked angrily, astounded that the Prince could consider that someone like Merlin would ever do anything to cause hurt needlessly. "He is one of the most good-hearted people you will ever find!"

Arthur nodded mutely, not making any move to stand up though.

Back in the ruins Merlin was lying beside the fire, Elyan setting up the camp around it as Catherine and Gwaine kept watch over the unconscious warlock.

"He's burning up." Gwaine observed, biting the knuckle of his left thumb nervously, he hadn't done that since he was a child.

"He used too much magic." Catherine told him, rummaging around in her pack for something. She came out with a small cloth bag, the top tied tightly closed. Striding over to the fire she pulled it open and dumped the powdery contents into the flames, stepping back as they turned purple and leapt into the air.

"What the…" Gwaine shielded his face from the heat of the fire, feeling the hairs on his arms sing as the inferno flickered and danced in front of him. "Catherine!"

With a look of fury Catherine hurled the manacles that she managed to remove from her brother's wrists into the fire, hearing the satisfying sound of melting metal as she moved back to her brother's side and the flames died back down to normal.

"What was that?" Gwaine spluttered, sharing a look of shock with Elyan who had frozen halfway through skinning a rabbit. Catherine shrugged at them both.

"Something I picked up, it increases the heat of the fire, useful for destroying things such as enchanted objects."

"And the manacles were enchanted objects?" Elyan asked, slightly confused.

"Sort of." Catherine explained. "There dampened Merlin's power, supposedly making it either impossible or very difficult for him to perform even simple spells."

"But we saw-"

"You saw something that should never have been allowed to happen." Catherine interrupted, cutting Gwaine off. "Merlin has access to more magic that anyone else there has ever been, and he just tried to channel a large majority of it. He's lucky it didn't kill him the fool."

"Merlin's stronger than you think." Gwaine said calmly. "He's not just your little brother, he isn't going to break at the slightest knock."

Catherine felt like laughing as she felt the tears began to slide down her cheeks, she hadn't cried in years and recently she felt that all she seemed to do was burst into tears. She hated that she had missed so much of her brother's life, he's carved out something and she was still trying to work out if she fit into it anymore.

"He'll pull through Catherine." Someone reassured her, and looking up she realised it was Arthur standing beside her. He still looked hurt but his sword was in its scabbard, and he's hadn't made a move to dispose of the sorcerer at his feet.

"The idiot can't die." Arthur said more to himself than Catherine. "He doesn't deserve to."

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	12. Chapter 12

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Twelve – updated 28/12/11

The trip back to Camelot was uneventful to say the least, which was strange for the majority of the rescue party since they weren't used to not having everything and anything go wrong while travelling. Merlin though had not woken up since his momentary flicker of consciousness back in the castle, had shown no signs of waking though, which worried Catherine immensely, who spent every waking moment fusing over her brother. Which then lead to Gwaine spending every waking moment making sure that Catherine didn't forget to eat and sleep herself since she seemed to forget she was mortal, and these things were normally deemed vital to a healthy lifestyle.

Everyone else just watched on in a quiet sort of awe as somehow Gwaine managed to deal with what was fast becoming the molten pile of crazy that had originally been Catherine, along with everything that her frayed nerves threw at him. Literally. One morning while packing up camp Arthur had caught Lancelot stashing away Catherine's knife in his saddle bag to the excuse of,

"Next time I don't think she'll miss." Which if he was honest, Arthur was inclined to agree with.

By the time they had reached Camelot it was already late into the evening and it took Arthur threatening to have the guards thrown into the dungeons to actually get inside the city. Everyone was asleep so no one noticed as the tired group trailed up towards the castle with Arthur's manservant wrapped in blankets between them.

Gaius had barely slept since Merlin had vanished; he's spent each evening keeping watch out of Merlin's window hoping that he would see the Prince riding home with Merlin in tow, laughing at how impossible it was to catch any good game with Merlin scaring off everything in a half a mile with his clumsiness.

Gaius felt his heart sink as the door to his quarters exploded open and Arthur strode in with Merlin cradled in his arms. If it hadn't been for the unsteady rise and fall of the boy's chest and the faint sheen of sweat across Merlin's grey skin the physician would have feared him already dead.

"Put him down on the bed." He order, slipping into his role as healer automatically, trying to ignore the snagging emotions which ebbed at the corner of his mind. Unwrapping the blanket that was coiled around the boy's body Gaius uncovered the gallery of injuries that covered his skin, most of them carefully tended to already and some even starting to heal.

"He's completely drained; he's not woken up in about three days." Catherine informed him, her tone clipped and sharp. She didn't sound like she'd slept much. "Morgana seems to have done a good job of bandaging him up, but we had an altercation later on that's not done him any favours.?

"How did he sustain these injuries, do you know?" Gaius asked, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he began to move around the room preparing tonics and balms.

"We're not entirely sure." Arthur admitted, "The blame lies mainly with a man by the name of Thomas Renwoor..."

"Renwoor!" Gaius yelped, his face becoming ashen. "Are you sure?""Yes, but Morgana killed him when she decided to kidnap Merlin as well. How do you know of this Thomas Renwoor?"

Gaius ignored Arthur's question.

"I would not be so sure of his death Sire." He warned, "Renwoor had a habit of not always dying when he should."

"A bit like Merlin then." Gwaine muttered which received him a clout round the head from Catherine.

"Merlin doesn't die because he shouldn't! Not because he defies fate you moron!" she scolded, her voice breaking slightly and betraying her own doubts.

Rubbing the sore patch at the back of his head Gwaine murmured an apology.

"I still don't quite understand how he can be at this level of exhaustion if he's been asleep for three days though." Gently Gaius felt for a pulse, it was weak but still there.

"Well I'm guessing that's what happens when you use a tonne of magic in a less than healthy state." Gwaine offered in explanation.

This time Gwaine received the hit from Catherine with a heavy paperweight she'd snagged off one of the cluttered surfaces.

"Ow!" Gwaine moaned reproachfully from his new position on the floor. "Oh come on, like Gaius would tell anyone than Merlin's a sorcerer!"

"He's a Warlock and that's not the point!" Catherine snapped "You can't go blurting stuff like that out! You will get Merlin killed!"

"Merlin needs to recover, therefore Gaius needs to know what's going on, and also _what's the difference_?" Gwaine said defensively.

"A warlock is born with their power; magic is apart of them from the start." Gaius supplied, deciding that since Arthur had brought Merlin here and not straight to his father that the matter of Merlin's secret could be left until a little while later.

"Will he recover Gaius?" Arthur asked, turning his back on the squabbling Catherine and Gwaine.

"I hope so Sire. I really do. But I feel I have to ask, what do you plan to do when he does?"

The room fell silent as they all waited for Arthur pass judgement

"I shall decide when I've spoken to Merlin. Until then I see no reason to inform my father of the past week's events."

Thomas knew that he would have to die for the spell to take hold and work but Morgana killing him had not been part of the plan. It had also hurt more than he expected, his whole body had felt as if it were burning and he was trapped inside it unable to scream.

He'd managed to sneak into Camelot on the tail of Arthur's little rescue party, keeping his eyes locked on the huntress the entire time. She was not exactly what he had been expecting. The stories were that she was heartless and cruel with no fear, not even of death itself. She threw herself off waterfall, scaled brittle cliff faces and chased down monsters that would send the bravest warriors wailing for their mothers.

The girl who he saw riding with the Prince of Camelot was terrified. He could smell it on her, with each movement it became stronger and it smelled beautiful. Thomas Renwoor watched as the rescue party vanished in the castle. It would be too easy to deal with them tonight, he wanted to draw this out, make them all suffer because that was the only way he would truly get his revenge.

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	13. Chapter 13

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Thirteen updated 28/12/11

For once Arthur had to admit that he was glad his father was at the present moment incapacitated, it meant the he at least could get Merlin back to how he was before and not have to worry about Uther asking questions. Arthur was at this point in time musing over this stroke of good luck, the lack of interruption not his father's illness, half asleep in a chair lodged up near Merlin's bed. It was nearly the end of his turn but he would have preferred to stay where he was then leaving Merlin, even if it was with someone he trusted. He needed to be here when Merlin woke up, he needed to know why Merlin had lied to him, lied to everyone! Surely Merlin could have trusted his friends, why didn't he seem to understand that Arthur would have moved mountains to make sure that Uther never killed Merlin for sorcery.

The door to Merlin's tiny room exploded inwards, Gwaine tumbling in after it and Catherine very neatly walking _over_ Gwaine's back.

"Was that really necessary?" he groaned from the floor,

"Just wanted to make sure that you know who's in charge in this relationship." She replied, adding a little extra pressure to her heel and she stepped off his shoulder.

"Oww." He moaned,

"Arthur." Catherine gushed, plastering an enormous smile across her face in the hope of appearing cheerful. "Don't you look handsome?" she simpered.

Arthur thought that his eyebrow may have just vanished beneath his hairline.

"Catherine? What..."

"She means that there is a massive dragon sat outside the gates of Camelot refusing to move until he speaks with Arthur Pendragon." Interrupted Gwaine, picking himself up from the ground, massaging his shoulder as he straightened up. "Just thought you might be a tad interested." He added catching sight of Arthur's dazed expression.

"GWAINE! ARTHUR! HAVE YOU SEEN!" Lancelot burst into the room gasping for air as he stared wildly at the three awake people inside.

"Lancelot!" Gwaine smiled, clapping his friend on the back, "I see you've become acquainted with Kilgharrah."

"Who!" Lancelot cried, "I'm talking about the bloody great big dragon that's outside the city walls!"

"Yep that's Kilgharrah." Catherine sighed,

"Lancelot you stay here," Arthur ordered, "Catherine and Gwaine you come with me and if we see Elyan, Leon or Percival we'll tell them to go make sure my father does NOT look out of any of the windows!"

"Well not _any_ of the windows." Gwaine joked, "Just any overlooking the massive, gold dragon." He shut up as Catherine and Arthur glared at him.

The three left Lancelot standing in Merlin's room, gaping at their backs as they hurried off to '_talk'_ to the Dragon.

As they rushed through the corridors Arthur managed to snag three servants to go and fetch Leon, Elyan and Percival to escort his father into one of the more private areas of the castle where he would not be disturbed. Which they soon realised was code for 'if the King finds out what's going on we may all lose out heads so whatever you do, do not let him find out!'

Running out onto the City Walls which were surprisingly quiet seeing as a dragon was right outside Arthur came face to face with the creature that he thought he would never have to see again.

"The young Pendragon." The aged voice boomed, "It seems we meet at last."

"Well technically you've met before." Gwaine shot in, "You know, when he was trying to kill you and you were trying to destroy Camelot."

Kilgharrah gave Gwaine a condescending stare which could only be rivalled by the one Gwaine was also receiving for Catherine.

"Or so I hear." He squeaked, "I'll just be quiet now."

Arthur stared at Kilgharrah.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his voice shaking a little more than he would have liked.

"I believe you have my Dragon Lord and I would quite like to make sure that you don't have him executed Young Pendragon."

What was it with people and his surname, Arthur though, he did have a first one.

"I'm not going to have him killed, you on the other hand caused multiple deaths and damaged to this city! Why should I not have you executed instead?"Arthur pressed on, trying not to let images of burning to death enter his mind.

"Aw crap, we're toast." Gwaine whispered.

The night filled with the sound of Kilgharrah's throaty chuckle.

"Do you actually think that you posses enough strength to kill me Pendragon?"

Well at least he'd dropped the young bit Arthur thought.

"I did it before." Arthur ventured, his nerves starting to fray slightly, what was he doing? This was a Dragon! He was going to get crisped!

"Correction."Kilgharrah informed him "Merlin forced me to leave and never return young Pendragon. You were away in dreamland at the time."

"Ouch Princess, I think your pride may have just taken a fatal hit." Arthur heard Gwaine chuckle.

"How can you be here then, if you were told never to return?"Catherine spoke for the first time, moving forward so that she could reach out and rest her hand against the Dragon's snout. "It is good to see you free again old friend." She hummed softly.

"It is good to see you no longer alone little one." Kilgharrah replied, passing Gwaine a knowing glance.

"Oh come on!" Gwaine yelled behind them, "Does every creature have a say in your relationships now!"

"Even if he is an idiot." Kilgharrah added.

"I heard that!" Came the indignant reply.

"In answer to your question." The dragon boomed, lifting his head from Catherine's gentle touch. "There was a loop hole in Merlin's demand, when he asked me to return him here a while ago; he accidently undid some of the spell. This means it's possible for me to approach the city walls but not pass them or fly above them. I can also not harm anyone inside them, however much I may want to." Kilgharrah snarled the last bit which was obviously aimed at Uther.

"I will look after Merlin." Arthur promised the Dragon, "No harm will come to him under my care." Kilgharrah preformed what could only be described as a small bow in thanks.

"So what are you going to do now?" Gwaine asked, "No offence, but a giant lizard is kind of noticeable."

"I AM NOT A GIANT LIZARD I AM A DRAGON!" Arthur swore he heard Gwaine whimper as the dragon's hot breath whooshed over him pinning him against one of the parapets.

"Sorry!" he cried, attempting to regain his composure.

"Kilgharrah." Catherine reprimanded the Dragon, earning her amazed looks from both Arthur and the still terrified Gwaine. "What?" she demanded.

"I shall stay here until Merlin is well and asks me to leave."

"If he asks you before he is well?" Arthur asked, curious.

"I will have no option but to agree to his whish, a dragon cannot deny a Dragon Lord."

"So if he asked you to call yourself a giant li..."

"Did you have to knock him unconscious Catherine?" Arthur asked, looking down at the motionless Gwaine.

"Yes, I really think I did. We could have let him get eaten instead." She offered.

"Kilgharrah can't hurt anyone inside the walls." He reminded her.

"Not that hard to push someone over ramparts."

Arthur just stood stock still for a moment or two as Catherine wandered back towards her brother's room to check on him.

"She's going to be trouble isn't she?"

Kilgharrah snorted.

"I'd worry if she wasn't."

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	14. Chapter 14

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Fourteen – updated 28/12/11

"This ends now!"

Catherine turned to stare at Gwaine, planting her hands firmly on her hips and tilting her head slightly to the left. They were stood in the stairwell of one of the towers built into the walls of the castle. Ignoring the throbbing across the back of his skull Gwaine tried to stare Catherine down.

"I have a brother to get back to so if you don't mind can't we keep the hysterics to a minimum." She sighed.

"Oh hilarious." Gwaine muttered sarcastically. "That's exactly what I mean."

"What?" Catherine shrugged at him; her nerves grating that she wasn't already back in the physicians chambers.

"You." Gwaine's voice was laced with frustration. He'd had enough of this girl running round in her skin tight leather trousers, and waistcoat which highlighted the way in which. No! Stop! He was mad, he needed to stay mad, not turn into a pile of gloop. "I'm sick of you walking all over me as if I can't defend myself."

"I don't have time for this." Catherine muttered, turning away from Gwaine and letting her hands drop from her hips.

Oh who cared about being angry! Gwaine though. She was beyond hot! He would worry about the, it's your best friend's sister bit later on.

"Hey! What the!" Catherine was cut off as Gwaine pushed her into the wall and shut her up with his lips.

Crap he was a good kisser. She thought distractedly, letting her body melt into his slightly. Coiling her arms around Gwaine's neck Catherine felt him wrap her waist in his embrace, washing away all the worry and fear that had been building up on her shoulders and making it only about that very moment.

"I'm terribly sorry you two!" Arthur's sarcastic voice broke in. "But I do believe that you two should perhaps find somewhere a little bit more private if you're going to act like that." Gwaine pulled away slightly,

"Is Merlin O.K, has something happened."

"Nothing has happened as far as I am aware." Arthur reassured Catherine.

"Oh in that case, I'm going to make the most of this moment before something else ridiculously insane happens as is turning out to be a matter of normality in Camelot." Catherine said simply. "So bye bye Arthur." Gwaine looked as if he were about to ask her something but Catherine grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him back into what they were up to before.

"I..." Arthur just decided it was better not to say anything. Turning away from the obviously very _energetic_ couple he thought that checking on Merlin sounded like a very good plan indeed.

This was weird...

Correction, it was very, very weird. These were the two thoughts that crossed Merlin's mind as he lay in the weird black fogginess of his brain. Somewhere above him he heard a door bang open and someone stride in purposefully.

"Gaius?" Came a vaguely familiar voice. "I think I'm starting to understand why Merlin had never has never introduced his sister to any of my knights before now."

Sister? Merlin thought confused. Was that voice talking about Catherine? Wait, it had mentioned Catherine and Knights. Knights included Gwaine. Gwaine included alcohol. Catherine, alcohol and Gwaine! Well that just equalled a huge pile of trouble. Waking up would probably be a good idea now, he just wasn't quite sure where to start.

Maybe he could start by twitching his finger. Start off small.

Arthur sank down onto one of the small stools in Merlin's room as Gaius gently tended to his ward, making sure that all the wounds were correctly dressed. Suddenly Arthur noticed Guias go rigid.

"Guias?" he asked, concerned that something was wrong with Merlin.

"Sire! His finger just twitched." The old physician replied softly.

"Does that mean he's waking up?" Arthur demanded. Guias remained quiet for a few moments.

"Possibly, but I don't understand how. He's completely exhausted."

Arg! No twitching his finger had not been a good idea. Pain had erupted everywhere; it had felt as if he were being burned alive.

Lying quietly Merlin allowed his mind to wander. What was the last thing he remembered? Morgana had been sitting beside him. There was someone else in the room though, someone who had scared Morgana and grabbed her around the throat. Where was he now though? His magic had gone haywire, literally exploding out of him and slamming into the attacker.

He could hear people mumbling above him, the voices slowly blending into recognisable sound. It was Arthur's voice, but if Arthur was there that must have meant he saw Merlin use magic! Arthur must have found out!

The physician and the Prince leapt to Merlin's side in panic, the young Warlock for no apparent reason had started gasping for breath, his hands clawing at the bedding as if he were drowning.

"What's happening?" Arthur yelled in confusion.

"He's having a panic attack." Came the calm reply, though Arthur could hear an edge of worry in Gaius's words.

"What?"

"He's terrified of something." Gauis reiterated.

"I know what a panic attack is." Arthur snapped. "But why is he having one!"

"I don't know Sire."

Merlin's eyes sprang open, staring up wildly at the two men above him.

"Merlin! Merlin!" Arthur called down desperately. "Calm down Merlin. You're going to hurt yourself. Please!"

Merlin just stared back in confusion. He could hear Arthur's words but they didn't make any sense. The Prince was begging him to be calm, he was worried about him. Why though? He had magic; surely Arthur should hate him for that.

"Arthur?" he managed to croak out in confusion. The door suddenly leapt open, Catherine hurling through it and dashing past Gauis so that she was knelt on the opposite side of the bed from Arthur.

"Hey there baby brother." She coaxed soothingly. "It's O.K, your safe now." Gently she stroked Merlin's damp hair off his feverish brow. Merlin didn't seem to hear her.

"Arthur I'm sorry." He tried again. "I was going to tell you. I just never... I... pleaser... don't hate me." Merlin's words were interrupted by sobs as he started to cry in desperation.

"Merlin why would I hate you?" Arthur looked down at her servant nonplussed, Merlin was still fighting for breath and Catherine had now positioned herself so that Merlin was sat up and resting against her in the hope it would ease his breathing.

"Magic." Came the shuddering gasp, as Merlin shook in his sister's arms.

There was a moment of two in silence, broken only by the sound of Merlin trying to breath.

"You idiot." The room turned to stare at Gwaine who had previously not been noticed standing in the doorway but it did make sense for him to be trailing around after Catherine. "I think it would take a lot more than that for Arthur to hate you."

Merlin's terrified face melted into confusion but his gasping eased into unsteady breaths and finally into normal breathing.

"Gwaine's right." Arthur agreed. Still shaken that Merlin had panicked so much at the idea of what Arthur might do at the knowledge of his magic. "But if you continue this way, you're going to get yourself killed and then that will be a good enough reason to hate you."

A ghost of a smile flitted across Merlin's face and he felt Catherine chuckle softly behind him softly. One of her hands still lingering comfortingly in his hair.

"I think that maybe now you should try and rest Merlin." Gauis said, more for the rest of the people in the room than really his ward. Grudgingly the room emptied slowly until only Catherine, Gauis and Merlin were left.

"I'll see you in a bit baby brother." Catherine whispered, helping Merlin to lie back down.

"I'm not a baby Catherine." He slurred from exhaustion. She gave a small laugh.

"No, you're not. You're all grown up Merlin. But to me you'll always be my little brother and I'm going to always protect you."

In a room above one of the less popular taverns in Camelot, Thomas gazed into his scrying dish.

"How sweet." He sneered, his hands crusted with the blood from the few people unlucky enough to have been in the tavern that night. "Shame you won't be able to keep that promise hunny."

_**Please review!**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Fifteen – updated 29/02/12

Arthur had yet to bother finding a manservant to fill in for Merlin while he was otherwise incapacitated so Gwaine had taken it upon himself to wake the Prince up each morning.

"Up and at 'em Princess." He called out cheerfully as the pitcher of ice cold water cascaded down onto the sleeping Arthur's face.

"Gwaine you bastard! I'm going to kill you!" Arthur yelled, leaping from his bed and tackling Gwaine to the ground.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Lancelot appeared around the door to find Arthur pining Gwaine to the floor, yelling at him that he would regret the day that he had been born.

"I swear Gwaine!"

"Arthur!" Both men froze and stared up at Lancelot. "Gaius sent me to tell you that he's planning on letting Merlin go outside for half an hour or so today."

"Really." Excitedly Arthur leapt to his feet, leaving Gwaine to scramble up on his own. "That means he must be getting better." For three weeks Merlin had been laid up in bed making painfully slow progress towards recovery. Apparently the sheer force of the magic he had used had meant that his body was struggling to function and this meant healing was taking a lot longer and Merlin just slept a lot.

"We should go and see if we can help." Gwaine suggested, heading towards the door.

"Catherine's up there."

Gwaine halted at Lancelot's words.

"Awake or asleep?"

"Asleep when I saw her."

Arthur cast a bemused look between the two knights.

"I'm sorry but last time I checked we were having trouble keeping you and Catherine away from each other, now it seems you don't want to go near her."

Simultaneously Gwaine and Lancelot answered Arthur's confusion.

"She just a little moody."

"She's the devil reincarnate."

Lancelot glared at Gwaine.

"Harsh don't we think."

Gwaine shrugged.

"You're not the one who keeps getting stuff thrown at them."

"You to go ahead and I'll follow when I'm dressed. Lancelot, don't let Catherine kill Gwaine." Arthur instructed, deciding that once again, he was not under any circumstances involving himself in Gwaine's love life. Mainly because Catherine terrified him speechless.

Arthur quickly caught up with the two knights and the three of them quietly made their way into the physician's chambers.

Catherine was asleep on a pile of blankets upon the floor with one arm draped across her stomach.

"You'd almost think she wasn't completely evil." Gwaine commented, earning him a punch in the shoulder off both Arthur and Lancelot. "Hey! What was that for?" He whispered annoyed, trying not to wake Catherine.

"Well Merlin's sick so someone has got to defend his sister in his stead." Arthur replied.

Gwaine just brooded darkly. "Well at least I stand a chance against you two." He muttered.

"What exactly do you mean by that? You're not scared of useless Merlin." Arthur laughed, "I mean come on..." he paused for a moment and the smile left his face. "He has the power to obliterate almost an entire castle." He murmured with a slightly awed tone. "Your right if he was mad you'd be completely screwed."

There was a slight snuffling noise and all three men froze, staring at Catherine who rolled onto her back.

"Gwaine you idiot! Support the head." She muttered sleepily and then promptly fell back into her dream.

"Good morning Sire." Arthur turned towards Gaius at the sound of his whispered greeting and saw the old physician creeping down the stairs. "I assume your here to see Merlin."

Arthur nodded, he watched as Gwaine nervously moved towards Catherine, his hand reaching for the dagger lodged under her pillow.

"Arg!"

Catherine's hand shot out and latched onto Gwaine's shirt, yanking him down Catherine's eyes bolted open to glare at him.

"Oh it's you." She smiled sweetly. "Morning Hun." Gently she released his shirt from her grip, sitting up as she did so and brushing his bemused cheek with a kiss. She was dressed in an white shirt which Arthur had a sneaking suspicion was actually one of Gwaines.

"Are you O.K?" Gwaine asked her, watching as she seemed to almost glide over to Arthur where she wished him a good morning and hugged him and then proceeded to greet Lancelot.

"I'm perfectly fine Gwaine." She sang.

"I'm thinking enchantment." Gwaine whispered to Lancelot.

"Breakfast Catherine." Gaius held out a bowl of porridge to Catherine, eagerly she leant forward. Her face turned a pale shade of green and she clutched her stomach, bolting towards the drain where she proceeded to vomit her previous evening's meal down the open grate. Gwaine rushed forward to crouch beside her kneeling figure, holding her hair out of her face and rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"Hey, that's the sixth morning this week's you've done that, are you sure you're not ill." He asked concernedly.

"I don't think so." She replied, "I mean..." Catherine's eyes bulged suddenly and her face went even paler. "Gaius what's the date?" she asked, her voice wavering.

"The fifth, why?" Arthur chimed in, beating Gauis to it.

"Oh no."

"What?" Gwaine pressed.

"I'm late." She whispered.

"Late?"

Gwaine gazed at her confused for a moment and then realised what she meant. "Oh."

Catherine seemed to sag into him.

"You do realise that you're now probably dead." Lancelot pitched in.

"Merlin wouldn't hurt a fly." Gwaine joked, hoping it didn't show that he was actually scared of Merlin.

"Who said it would be Merlin doing the murdering." Arthur growled.

Merlin leant against the barrier around the training ground next to his sister who was chewing her lip nervously as they watched the knights try and beat the living daylights out of each other. For some reason Gwaine kept looking over as if to check up on Catherine and everyone else kept looking over to check that Merlin was still standing.

"You would think I was made of glass they way they act." Merlin groaned as Arthur took a nasty hit which he could have easily blocked if he's been looking at his opponent and not Merlin.

"They're you friends, they worry." Catherine reassured him. "They would never do anything to hurt you. At least not on purpose. I mean if they did, they would feel awful, and it would just be mean to hold it against them."

"What?" Merlin stared at his sister who had just finished her mini-rant.

"Nothing." She laughed nervously, twisting her sleeve tightly with her fingers.

"Young Pendragon." The dragon's voice boomed across the training field. "Do try and at least attempt to act as if you know how to use a sword. Your left side is completely vulnerable."

Catherine shied away from Merlin's accusing stare.

"Was that?"

She nodded.

"And he's..."

"Outside the city walls."

"And he's been..."

"Being a complete and utter pain. You know I think that's the first time he's said something that isn't completely cryptic." Catherine laughed, avoiding Merlin's eye and still messing around with the fabric of her clothing.

Merlin's hand suddenly reached for the barrier around the edge of the field. "Catherine…" he mumbled, the colour draining from his face as he swayed slightly.

Catherine forgot about her sleeve instantly and caught hold of her brother, steadying him with a look of pure terror etched across her face as she watched Merlin's eyelashes flutter slightly before he seemed to snap back to reality.

"Merlin are you O.K?" Merlin was aware that a group of knights had suddenly clustered around him.

"I think I'll go back in now if that's O.K?"Arthur nodded at his best friend and Gwaine and Lancelot escorted him back to the castle.

"Did you tell him?" Arthur's question was directed at Catherine.

"Don't pester me Pendragon!" came the screeched reply and Arthur was left to watch as a very hormonal Catherine stalked after her brother.

How. He thought. Can this get any more difficult?

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	16. Chapter 16

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Sixteen – updated 29/2/12

When night fell on Camelot Thomas remained where he was, the bodies in the tavern below had begun to rot but the smell did little to bother him. Nothing bothered him much anymore, except the burning hatred that he still held for the Dragon Lords. He stared down into the scrying bowl on the table in front of him, Merlin tossing and turning in a fevered dream occupying the surface of the water. Thomas smiled to himself as he thought of what he'd accomplished, he really was incredibly intelligent. Who else would have thought of a plan anywhere as ingenious as his? With a wave of his hand the image on the water dissolved and instead Thomas was staring at a dungeon, the two occupants were too far into the shadows to be seen but since he had been the one to put them there Thomas knew exactly who they were. This time, he would have the pleasure of killing Merlin himself.

The room was silent when Gwaine walked in, Gaius was out tending to some of his patients on an emergency call and Arthur was sat next to the fire in the main room, obscured by various bottles and apparatus. Catherine had vacated her makeshift bed after Gwen had demanded that she came and stayed with her, since in her condition it would make more sense.

"You're going to have to tell him." Arthur muttered into the fireplace, not looking up at Gwaine.

"I know." Gwaine whined in reply. "It's just with everything that's happened Catherine thinks that we should at least wait until his leg has healed and then tell him."

Arthur snorted.

"I guess he can't chase you on crutches."

"I'm hoping that he won't chase me at all." Gwaine muttered miserably.

"No. He may just turn you into a toad or something equally as revolting."

Gwaine's face turned pale.

"Can he actually do that?" his voice was barely more than a whisper. "I mean how powerful is he actually meant to be?"

Arthur shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Gauis would only tell me that he's meant to be Emrys, a druid legend and the most powerful magic wielder that there will ever be."

Gwaine's face lost even more colour.

"Oh."

A silence settled between the two men, with Arthur staring into the flames of the fire and Gwaine standing awkwardly besides the door.

"I keep wondering what I would have done if he had told me sooner." Arthur admitted, "Would I have turned him into my father, would I have let him be executed, watched as he was burnt at the stake? Or perhaps I would have just not believed him and called him a moron?"

"Arthur..."

"You know it makes me sick to think about what my father did now. He murdered those people Gwaine, and then brainwashed me into almost being willing to sacrifice my best friend just because he was born with magic." Raising a hand to his face, Arthur realised he'd been steadily crying.

"You didn't though Arthur." Gwaine stepped forward, laying a comforting hand on the Prince's shoulder. "You saw what he could do and you made your own judgement, all your father's views aside. What your father did was horrible and cruel but you are not him and there is nothing you can do to reverse the past. We just have to hope for a brighter future."

"What if it's too late?" Arthur asked, slightly stunned by how deep Gwaine could be.

He received a shrug in reply.

"Merlin is loyal to you and he has magic. I think that's enough evidence to suggest that there is still hope to reconcile with those who have been persecuted."

Arthur opened his mouth to reply but the quiet of the night was shattered by a blood curdling scream.

"Merlin." Arthur breathed his nerves on fire. Both he and Gwaine bolted towards the narrow staircase and slammed open the door into Merlin's tiny room.

The dungeons were small and dank, similar to those in which Merlin had been in after his kidnap. This time thought he wasn't in chains; he wasn't even really in the dungeons he realised. He was more of a ghost lurking in the background.

Cowering on the floor in front of him was a woman sobbing, her arms locked into cruel looking chains which weighed her down painfully.

"Morgana?" Merlin whispered, reaching out towards the woman.

As if hearing her name the woman started and stared towards where Merlin was sort of standing.

"Merlin?" She whimpered back, fear lining her words as her eyes darted nervously around the dingy room to try and spot the speaker. She was sure that she had heard him, heard Merlin. The man she had killed, Thomas, he'd said that Merlin would try and save her that she was now bait. It was ironic, seeing how she had been planning on using Merlin as bait herself. She had laughed in the man's face and told him that Merlin would never save her and that he must be insane to think such a thing. Her face still stung where he had slapped her for impertinence. He had asked her why would someone who was willing to leave someone to their deaths, not kill that person when they had the chance.

"Don't come!" she screamed, she didn't know why. If Merlin came he would be killed but somehow she found herself recoiling at the thought. Merlin could not save her, if he tried, he would die.

Merlin sat up in bed, wide eyed and tears streaming down his face as he panted trying to catch his breath. Shudders raced through his body, a thin sheen of sweat blanketing his skin.

"No one else in here." Gwaine said, concern etched into his voice. Moving towards Merlin he crouching beside the bed. "Hey Merlin, mate."

Merlin felt a hand settle on his arm, warm and comforting.

"He's going to kill her." Merlin rasped.

Arthur watched as Gwaine attempted to sooth the terrified Warlock.

"No one is going to kill anyone Merlin, it was just a nightmare. You're safe in Camelot now."

Slowly Merlin's breaths became more even and he relaxed back against the headboard.

"Merlin?"

Merlin turned towards Arthur's voice, his eyes full of wariness.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing." Merlin muttered quickly. Directing his gaze down to his lap where he was steadily wringing his hands. He couldn't tell them, they wouldn't understand, he would deal with it himself. "I'm fine really."

Gwaine and Arthur cast each other disbelieving looks.

"Are you sure?" Gwaine asked carefully, watching Merlin's face for any sign that might give away if he was lying of not.

Two sharp nods affirmed what Merlin had previously told them and Gwaine didn't press Merlin for any further answers.

_**Please Review**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Seventeen – updated 29/02/12

Rolling onto her back Catherine groaned, she was really starting to hate morning sickness with a vengeance. Trying to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach she wriggled back into the unbelievable soft mattress on her bed, her hand gliding unconsciously to rest on the slight bump that wasn't yet noticeable to the eye. Catherine's eyes snapped open, her bed was nowhere near this comfortable.

Three pairs of feet stepped back very suddenly as Catherine bolted upright, her furious eyes glaring for someone to fix on.

"Why exactly am I in the dungeons?" she spat in Arthur's direction as Gwaine shuffled uncomfortable and Lancelot suddenly acquired a great interest in the flagstones at his feet.

"Don't you like it?" Arthur responded hesitantly, gesturing to the bed which was probably even softer than his own and the mass of beautiful furniture that had piled into the cell, alongside a thick blue carpet and cream drapes across the walls to keep as much heat in as possible.

"It's a cell." She muttered threateningly,

"Well technically yes, but it isn't in the dungeons."

"What." Catherine stared at him as if he had just gone insane. "How does that make it any better?"

"Well this room was actually used originally for holding some King's daughter, who never did as she was told so is actually situated at the top of one of the towers." Arthur finished meekly.

Catherine continued to glare at him.

"You drugged me." It wasn't a question it was a statement. "You drugged a pregnant woman."

"We checked with Gaius, the potion we used would have no effect on the baby whatsoever."

Arthur was fighting not to shrink back against the wall from Catherine's glare, he was actually very thankful for the row of bars separating her from him.

"Why am I in here?" she asked.

"Oh that!" Arthur laughed awkwardly, "Nothing really, Gwaine and I are just going on a quest and he was worried you'd demand to come too. Which in your condition would not be the best idea if we ran into trouble."

"You lost Merlin didn't you?" she shot in coolly.

"Yes." Arthur admitted, his pride itching at the way Catherine managed to deal it a new blow every time she spoke.

"Prat. Have you spoken to Kilgharrah?"

"Merlin commanded him not to tell anyone anything." Arthur sighed.

Catherine let out a bark of laughter.

"Of course he did. Well you better let me out of here and we'll go retrieve him again."

"Oh no!" Gwaine finally spoke up. "You're staying put."

Catherine stared stunned for a moment.

"Gwaine..."

"No." Gwaine interrupted her, "You will not put yourself or the child at any risk do you hear me! And when we find Merlin we're telling him and then we're getting married."

With a definitive nod Gwaine spun around and marched out of the room leaving Catherine sink onto her bed too shocked for words.

"I think that's our cue to be going." Lancelot whispered.

"I think so too." Arthur replied.

It hadn't been difficult to get away from the castle. A few quick spells and Merlin had managed to numb all pain from his wounds which on closer thought was probably going to turn out to be a really bad idea but at the moment there were other things plaguing his mind.

The image of Morgana cowering in a filthy dungeon refused to leave him be, he tried to convince himself that the witch deserved it and that he should leave her where she was, but for some reason that idea repulsed him even more.

His horse galloped through the forest, mud and leaves spraying up behind them from its hooves and the sun dipped low over the tops of the trees. Merlin let the horse race ahead, closing his eyes to the passing scenery as he reached out mentally to see if he could find Morgana.

The horse reared up, startled by the sudden yank on the reigns which forced it to come to a stop. Blinking Merlin tried to shake the horrible feeling the white hot pain from a few moments before which had flashed in his mind. Concentrating on his breathing he closed his eyes and tried again. The pain was even worse this time but he ignored it, pushing past it and trying to find Morgana behind its walls. She was there. Crying and so very scared that it tore at Merlin's heart.

"_Morgana"_ he felt her startle at her name,

"_Merlin!"_ she cried out incredulously, her loathing forgotten in desperation, _"Are you here to taunt me?"_ she asked, her voice small and frail.

"_I need you to help me find you Morgana."_ Merlin told her, ignoring the question.

"_I don't know."_ She sobbed,

"_Try."_ He urged. Slowly Merlin felt Morgana's mind melt into his, it was slightly unnerving as it meant that if she chose to Morgana could probably kill him right that moment, or even just search through all his memories until she found the horrors that lay buried and then bring them up so he was forced to relive them over and over again.

"I found you!" Merlin shouted in triumph, suddenly feeling Morgana flinch at the power of the noise. "Sorry" he apologised.

Kicking his heels into the side of his horse Merlin shot off, she wasn't far, just a little farther. Skidding to a halt Merlin jumped off and ran towards a collection of odd looking boulders, dropping behind them to find a roughly cut set of stairs.

Leaping down the two at a time he found himself in a dimly lit cavern with Morgana huddled just in front of him.

"Tóspringe" Merlin muttered, watching as the shackles around her wrists sprang apart.

"Merlin!" Suddenly Merlin was thrown backwards against the wall, Morgana arms wrapped around his neck as she clutched herself to his chest and cried into his shoulder. "You came!" she sobbed. "You actually came for me!"

Awkwardly Merlin patted her back.

"Um Morgana, we should really get going."

Morgana drew away; scrubbing her hand across her face she drew herself up to full height.

"What about Modred?" she demanded, carefully keeping her distance from Merlin now. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment at the sheer desperation she'd shown in literally throwing herself at him.

"Modred's here?" Merlin asked, slightly confused.

"He got caught up when I was taken." Morgana explained, leading the way out of her cell and slipping down a narrow corridor that was almost hidden by the gloom. Modred wasn't hard to find, he was in a similar condition to Morgana and the manacles fell away with a single spell.

Modred clung to Morgana's tattered dress as they wandered back out of the horrible underground prison.

"AH!"

Merlin had barely stepped out into the sunlight when Morgana suddenly cried out in pain. Spinning around he saw her cowering back towards the darkness with her hands clamped across her eyes.

"I can't-" she choked, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks, "The sunlight, it's hurting my eyes!"

"Morgana I'm sorry!" Merlin spluttered, racing towards his horse and digging around in the saddle bag, "I should have realised that you'd been down there too long, your eyes need to get used to the light again."

Morgana just replied with a small nod and let Merlin blindfold her.

"Modred, are you-" Merlin reached out towards the young boy only to have him flinch back.

"He says he's fine." Morgana whispered, repeating Modred's own, slightly more sulky words that he'd projected into her mind. "He says the druids are not far away and that he wants to go to them."

Merlin stood stunned for a moment.

"Well O.K then. I guess that's alright."

A ghost of a smile flickered across Morgana's face. "Thank you Merlin."

"I told you Morgana. I always protect my friends."

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	18. Chapter 18

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Eighteen – updated 29/02/12

Sat next to Merlin's bedside Morgana kept her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixing the two guards stood either side of the door to Merlin's room with a steely gaze. Merlin himself was asleep, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths as he once again fought for his life. The only difference this time was that Morgana was right next to him.

The horse had wandered back into Camelot's courtyard; Merlin was still just about conscious, with Morgana's arms wrapped around his waist. Her one hand rested above his heart, making sure that the beats did not slow or stutter. With her eyes still covered there was very little that Morgana could do to defend herself when Arthur's knights pulled her from the horse and deposited her on the ground, almost ripping Merlin from her as they hurried him to Gaius.

She felt herself dragged to her feet and propelled towards what she assumed to be the direction of the castle. The familiar feel of cold steel closed around her wrists, causing a cry of fear to pass through her lips as the manacles clicked into place and she felt her arms dragged down by the weight of chains.

The weight only lasted a few moments, replaced almost instantly by a warm tingling sensation as the manacles seem to just vanish.

"Merlin!" Sir Leon's voice reached Morgana's ears, shocked and confused.

"Don't arrest her." Came a tired and hoarse voice that still somehow retained a strength that even Morgana would not dare to have challenged.

"Merlin, she's a traitor to Camelot. We have to arrest her." Leon murmured in what he must have assumed to be a soothing voice.

"I am well aware of that!" Merlin snapped, his words edged with pain. "But if we arrest her nothing will change. She'll still be angry and then we'll be back right where we started."

There was a second or two of silence.

"Merlin that makes no sense." Leon said.

More silence followed, but Merlin seemed to have said something else to Leon, or at least convinced him not to arrest Morgana since she didn't feel the manacles go back on her wrists.

"Take him to Gaius." Leon commanded and the sound of footsteps followed as Merlin was taken away. Panic began to coil in Morgana's gut, she felt abandoned without Merlin there and with her sight gone. Jerking violently as a hand laid upon her shoulder she slapped it away automatically, backing away from whoever was trying to touch her. Her back collided with the thick chest of one of the other Knights, she didn't know who but she felt them latch onto her, pinning her in place.

"It seems we mean you no harm Morgana." Leon's voice said sharply, he'd dropped the Lady from her title Morgana noticed. Then again that wasn't who she was anymore was it?

"Why should I trust you." She spat, with more bravery than she actually felt.

"The same reason we're trusting you." Leon informed her. "Merlin."

Nodding her head slightly Morgana felt the Knight behind her release his grip and Leon gently taking hold of her shoulder to guide her forward.

"What happened to your eyes?" He asked, more out of curiosity than concern.

She debated answering before deciding that it probably wouldn't help her to be uncooperative with the Knights.

"Merlin said something about being in the dark so long means that they're not use to the sunlight."

Leon continued to lead her.

"Steps." He murmured helpfully, allowing Morgana time to navigate up the stone steps into the citadel that she must have passed up millions of times, yet seemed to struggle with now as she couldn't see where to put her feet.

She had been steered through what seemed to be endless sets of corridors and helped to climb flight after flight of stairs until Leon finally pushed through one last door and allowed Morgana to halt.

The smell of herbs hung heavily in the air, a fire crackled softly in the corner and Morgana could hear the sound of water bubbling against the sides of a cauldron. Leon's hands guided her towards a seat and the feel of well scrubbed wood pressed into her back, creating the impression that she was sat on a small stool next to a table. She must have been in Gaius's quarters was the conclusion she had reached, her other's senses making up for what she could not see.

"Hello Morgana." Gaius's kind voice greeted her. She attempted a little smile but stopped, scared that it might come across as a smirk and they would think that she was enjoying this.

"Hello Gaius." She replied softly instead. "Where's Merlin?"

"In his room, resting." Gaius told her. "Do you want to see him?"

A slight shiver of shock ran down Morgana's spine, she hadn't expect Gaius to forgive her, his kindness confused her and the threat of tears began to lurk behind her eyes. Steadily she dipped her head, hoping Gauis would see it as affirmation that she wished to see Merlin.

"Well let's see what we have here first." He murmured, "You can leave now Sir Leon."

"I think it would be best if I stayed Gaius." The knight said.

"I'm in no danger. You'll only be in my way." Argued the Physician. Morgana heard the sound of a door shutting and she was aware that only she and Gaius were left in the room. Slowly the old man unwrapped the cloth that was wound around Morgana's eyes, exposing them to the light little by little.

Blinking rapidly Morgana had tried to focus of the blurred objects around her, letting them slide into focus. Gauis had fussed around for a while, making sure that there was no real damage done to her eyes and forcing her to take some broth and bread, but eventually he had allowed her to go and sit beside Merlin as the boy slept.

The two guards had arrived a little while later, apparently on the orders of Leon. Morgana couldn't really blame him; she hadn't exactly been the most trustworthy person in Camelot.

As she watched the guards standing impassively the door down in the main quarters slammed open with an explosive bang. Gauis's voice could be heard demanding that someone sit down immediately, before they did themselves any harm as feet quickly pattered across the floor and up the small flight of stairs to Merlin's room.

The door opened at a rate that Morgana didn't think she'd seen any door ever open at, standing in the threshold with an ornate hair pin still in hand stood the woman who had been there when Arthur had attempted to rescue Merlin.

"Piece of advice Morgana." Catherine said. "Never go anywhere without a lock pick."

Swiftly seating herself in the chair on the opposite side of the bed Catherine swung her feet up onto the covers, twirling the hair pin between her fingers.

"Catherine by the way." She chirped, "Merlin's sister."

Morgana tried to show her shock, her years of perfecting etiquette still engrained into her as she sat rigidly and with a look of calm across her face.

"Lady Morgana." She replied, kicking herself slightly for still using Lady when it was highly unlikely anyone would accept that term for her anymore.

"Nice to meet you Morgana," Catherine smiled, "Thought you might need a little help when Arthur gets up here. By the looks of it he's about ready to hit the roof."

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	19. Chapter 19

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Nineteen – updated 29/02/12

Morgana wrung out the cloth nervously, pressing the cool fabric back against Merlin's hot skin as the raised voices below continued to battle it out. Gaius had said that the stress Merlin had put his body under by sneaking off on his own while his body was still attempting to recover from the injuries sustained in his last little escapade, had caused his fever to return. However, he had told Morgana and Catherine on a more cheery note, it should break before morning and Merlin would once again be on the road to recovery.

Catherine had left when Arthur's furious voice could be heard hollering up the stairway to the physician's chambers, demanding that someone tell him _why_ _anyone_ had let Morgana anywhere near Merlin in the first place. Never mind why anyone had left the pair alone together.

The door of the physician's chamber sounded as if someone had broke it in two as Arthur stormed in. His terse demands, ordering to be shown where the witch was and threatening to kill her himself if she had so much as laid a finger on Merlin sounded clearly through the thin door of Merlin's room. His fury had been met by Catherine's own and for the previous hour Morgana had been listening to the snarls and shouts of the pair, as she found a surprising ally in Merlin's terrifying older sister. It helped that Arthur had seemingly pissed Catherine off a fair amount already.

Focusing of Merlin's flushed face Morgana tried to ignore the argument going on downstairs. Her hands moved methodically across the boy's fevered skin as she attempted to offer some relief. She had suggested that perhaps she could use her magic to heal Merlin, including the injuries that he already had. Gaius had shot this idea down immediately, saying that she neither had enough power or ability to heal the complexity of the injuries that they were dealing with, and that if she tried to perform such complex magic without the proper training, she was just more likely to injure herself or Merlin further.

Closing her eyes Morgana fought back the tears that threatened to spill over, allowing her hand to linger over Merlin's cheek as she took a few steadying breaths. Something warm brushed against the back of her hand, lifting her fingers away from Merlin's face and entwining them with something warm and comforting.

Her eyes snapped open to meet Merlin's dazzling blue orbs, slightly glazed with the fever, but still retaining the same strength they always had.

"It's fine Morgana." He said hoarsely, the words catching in his dry throat. "I won't let anyone hurt you I promise."

A small bubble of laughter somehow forced its way past Morgana's lips, escaping into the room only to be followed by another. Soon though they descended into sobs and Morgana found herself shuddering with wretched wails as Merlin stroked her hair and pulled her into his chest. Sitting up he leant against the headboard and coaxed Morgana onto the bed beside him.

Whispering half formed consolations to her Merlin allowed Morgana to cry herself out, only half aware that two people below them were in the middle of a blazing argument.

"Morgana?" he asked, "What did Arthur do to annoy Catherine this time?"

Morgana chuckled again, but this time the noise didn't morph into more tears.

"I think it had something to do with her not killing me on sight." She murmured, shifting her body so that she was curled up next to Merlin against the headboard of the bed, encircled by his arms. It was hard to think of that skinny boy, who seemed to be the clumsiest person in Camelot, as the most powerful magical being that ever lived.

"I should talk to him." Merlin muttered, sounding more annoyed than angry. "There's a lot I need to explain."

The sound of footsteps off the small flight of stone steps to Merlin's room echoed just beyond the door, and the form of Gwaine suddenly darted into the room, slamming the door closed behind him as the sound of shattering crockery exploded behind him.

"I don't think Catherine's too happy with me." he laughed nervously, looking at Merlin and Morgana helplessly as Catherine's yells increased in volume, only to be matched by Arthur's own. A look of revelation spread over Gwaine's features as he glanced from Merlin to Morgana.

"What is it with you two!" he exclaimed. "If you're not trying to kill each other, you're jumping into bed! Seriously Morgana, at least let the guy recover before you demand to have your way with him!"

Morgana's features darkened at Gwaine's joke, her hands twitching as her mind mulled over the multitude of spells that she could use to inflict pain on the drunken knight.

"Morgana." Merlin warned, sensing her intentions by the way her body tensed against his. "I doubt Arthur would look upon you any more kindly if you kill off one of his men."

Morgana relaxed slightly, the expression of a child robbed of its fun appearing across her face as she leant back into Merlin and allowed her magic to slip away.

"I was think more injure than kill." She admitted, enjoying the way that the colour drained for Gwaine's face.

The sound of more feet approaching the room appeared from behind the door, and a brisk knock clattered against the wood, only to be met with clash of metal against stone as whichever knight it had been was shoved into a wall and Catherine marched past him, followed very quickly by Arthur.

"This doesn't mean you won the argument." He muttered, Catherine smirking as she heard his sour words.

"Don't be ridiculous, you were lost from the start Pendragon."

Arthur scowled as Catherine used his surname. He really hated the way it sounded when she said it.

Lancelot, Percival and Elyan followed them into the room, Leon hanging back slightly in the doorway, as the room wasn't really that large to begin with, and the addition of five knights and two females on top of the normal occupant, made it difficult for anyone else to enter.

"Morgana." Arthur seethed, staring at his treacherous half sister distrusting. "It seems as if Merlin has decided to take you as being honest, so I have no choice but to allow you to remain as you are."

Morgana shuddered, hearing the hatred in Arthur's words.

"However." He said, looming forward threateningly, "You betrayed Camelot once, so do not expect me to afford you the same trust my manservant does."

Without waiting for a reply Arthur left the room, leaving Morgana unconsciously gripping Merlin's hand for support.

"Well isn't he just a barrel of sunshine today." Catherine muttered, lowering herself back into one of the seats in the room, only to have Gwaine moved behind her and begin to massage the tension from her shoulders.

"I'm not sure what exactly is going on here." Merlin said softly. "But something is on its way, something very, very dark."

"Great, now it's too of them." Catherine sighed.

_**Please review!**_


	20. Chapter 20

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Twenty – updated 29/02/12

Morgana watched across the great hall as Gwaine fussed nervously around Catherine, whose belly was now enormous and her hormones even more volatile than normal. Eight months had passed since Merlin had saved her from the dark little prison where she had been trapped, and since then life had settled into a comfortable routine.

Arthur had steadily become less icy towards Morgana, still treating her with an air of mistrust though whenever he was required to be in her presence. The citizens had been told that Morgouse had placed an enchantment over Morgana, and that upon her death the enchantment had broken and the old Morgana that everyone had loved had returned. Merlin had agreed to help Morgana with her magic, and the pair spent most of their evenings sat beside the fire in Morgana's chambers, practicing spells and potions until the candles burnt themselves out. However, it had somewhat irked Arthur and Catherine that Merlin had often been noticed leaving Morgana's chambers in the early hours of the morning.

Uther still remained in his state of madness. There had been suggestion that perhaps they should attempt to convince him also of Morgana's enchantment by Morgouse but they feared it may just confuse him further and that he was best left alone.

"My Lady."

Smiling Morgana turned to face Merlin's grinning face. He masked their closeness by pouring her another goblet of wine while continuing his whispered conversation.

"Catherine looks about ready to explode." He commented, glancing in his sister's direction. There was a resounding crash as Gwaine promptly knocked out one of the nobles who had muttered something about Catherine's honour, and carrying a child out of wedlock. Usually this would have had Catherine on her feet and fighting, throwing various items at Gwaine as she fiercely reminded him that she was perfectly capable of defending her own honour. However, pregnancy had meant that fighting was no longer the most sensible option to pursue when she doubted she could even reach her target past her annoyingly large stomach.

Relaxing back into her chair slightly, Morgana drew comfort from having Merlin so close, he may have been as skinny as a twig, and she still noticed him flinching every now and again if someone moved suddenly or mentioned something that reminded him of the kidnapping, but she could feel the magic that pulsed within him. It was different from the magic that Morgouse and Modred had used, theirs had both been tainted and for a while her own had. Yet Merlin's was golden and pure, it seemed to almost sing beneath his skin and Morgana often found herself wondering how she had never noticed it before.

Gwaine was now helping Catherine from her chair, his one arm encircling her belly and holding her close and the pair made their way out of the great hall and back towards their chambers.

Arthur had arranged that part. His explanation had been that it seemed the most sensible solution, since Gwaine was one of his knights, and having the pair close at hand could prove useful. Really Morgana, and the majority of others, believed that it was for Merlin's sake that Catherine had been given a place inside the citadel walls. He seemed calmer and more relaxed when his sister was around; she managed to entice the old Merlin back when he sank into one of his black moods that sometimes came around since the ordeal.

"Morgana?"

Starting from her thoughts Morgana noticed that Arthur had sank into the chair next to her, Merlin hovering nervously between the two. Arthur was still struggling to forgive her for the threat she had posed to Camelot, but he had managed to understand the pain that their father basically disowning her had caused.

"Yes Arthur?" She asked, being as warm as she could. He rewarded her with a half smile.

"I was thinking-"

Arthur's sentence was cut off by a high pitched scream which echoed through the hall. Springing from his seat Arthur bolted towards the courtyard where the sound had come from, Morgana and Merlin hot on his heels as they fled from the now silent feast.

A small crowd of knights followed them out, Gwaine meeting them halfway, informing them that Catherine had demanded he report back immediately, and that she was in a foul mood and he's left her ranting about how waddling was NOT an appropriate form of movement.

Outside the courtyard had returned to darkened quiet, a few flickering fires the only source of light as Morgana, Merlin and Arthur made their way towards the fountain at the centre, the knights following behind.

A slumped form leant against the stone wall, a black glistening puddle pooling around the still body as Arthur reached towards it.

His finger's met with icy cold skin. A girl of perhaps fifteen stared at him with lifeless eyes as he searched for a none-existent pulse beneath throat. The flow of blood from her slit neck had slowed, showing that her heart had ceased to beat and that even the ruby liquid was stilling in her veins.

Arthur's voice shook slightly as he spoke:

"Someone call Gaius; tell him we have a body that he needs to see. Call the guards as well, the murderer could still be nearby."

Leaning against a stone pillar, just hidden from sight, Thomas listened to conversation beside the fountain. He smiled sickeningly as he rubbed small circles against the palm of his blood stained hand.

He hadn't really needed to kill the girl, she had just been a useful piece in his game. Impossible to link with Merlin, no one would even think to assume there might be any threat to the manservant and all their attentions would go to finding a murderer who was attacking young girls.

He was going to have fun with this little escapade. He'd have to be careful though, he still needed to kill the boy. However, he had all the time he needed now, and Modred could be easily bent to Thomas's will when he found him again. Everything would fall into place soon enough, and Emrys would die.

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	21. Chapter 21

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Twenty One – updated 29/02/12

Catherine paced restlessly from one end of her chambers to the other. Retracing the same path over and over again, she stalked nervously back and forth, her hands clutching the bulging bump that was her stomach. Gwaine was somewhere else in the ridiculously oversized castle, investigating the heart wrenching scream which had shattered the peaceful night.

A girl had been murdered, she knew that much. Gwen had come by to tell her, and that Gwaine would not be back for a while, since Arthur had demanded that everyone report to the round table for a meeting, as to how someone had be killed in the middle of the castle courtyard.

"You should sit down." Gwen said kindly, fussing around the fire to make sure that the room was warm enough. Winter was returning and it always seemed that no amount of kindling would keep it out of the castle.

Stopping sharply, Catherine lowered herself into the closest chair and perched nervously on the edge of her seat. Snatching up a book, she flicked distractedly through the pages, the words dancing and swaying mockingly before her eyes. Giving up Catherine hurled the book back down onto the table beside her, heaving herself up into a standing position while silently cursing the constant back ache that accompanied pregnancy.

"Gwen." She called quietly.

A short sharp pain shot through her stomach, forcing her to stifle a cry as she doubled over. Warmth began to trickle down her legs, dampening the fabric of her nightdress.

"Oh no." she murmured.

"How does anyone manage to murder someone in the middle of the citadel!" Arthur roared.

Gwaine felt the familiar worry roll in his stomach as he watched Merlin flinch at Arthur's anger, it seemed that Arthur had noticed Merlin's reaction too since he seemed to calm a little, and laid a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.

"We will find the murderer soon." Leon reassured the Prince, sounding confident in his words but Gwaine could tell he was worried. Everyone was shaken. Someone had managed to get into the main courtyard and kill an innocent girl, as well as escaping, and not a single guard had seen them supposedly. It made them all nervous, it meant that there was the chance of someone getting inside the castle, and possibly getting to those close to the Prince.

"Did she suffer?" Arthur asked, directing his question at Guias who was lingering beside one of the windows, while everyone else sat or stood around the round table. His age showed clearly on nights like these. Merlin wasn't the only one to suffer during the kidnapping.

"No." Guias answered plainly, "She would have bled out very quickly, perhaps within a few moments. Death was swift."

Arthur nodded, moving away from Merlin and approaching the fireplace to warm his hands.

The sound of yells and footsteps racing down the stone hall outside the room echoed through the doorway, followed by the frantic knock of a nervous servant who stumbled into the room, face flushed red and gasping for breath.

"Sir Gwaine… Gaius" he panted breathlessly, "milady… the baby…"

"What!" Gwaine yelled, leaping out of his seat and hurling himself towards the trembling servant, grabbing hold of the man and shaking him roughly.

"What's happened? What's wrong?" he demanded, his eyes darting widely across the servant's features to try and obtain any indication of the situation that he could.

"Good God Gwaine!" Lancelot called out. "Let the poor man speak."

Reluctantly Gwaine took a step back, shifting from one foot to the other impatiently as he waited for the servant to continue.

"The baby is coming Sir." The servant revealed having caught his breath a little. "I've been sent to fetch you and the physician at once."

The room erupted into a flurry of activity.

"Leon!" Arthur boomed, "See how the search for the perpetrator is going and then return at once!"

Leon hurried out of the room quickly to follow his orders; Gwaine who had previously unable stand still was now rooted to the spot, gaping like a fish as he tried to process the information.

"Come on Gwaine." Lancelot urged, taking his friend by the arm, Percival grabbing the other. "Let's go see if there is anything that we can do to help."

The three men left the room, Gauis and Merlin followed, Gauis listing off what he would need and Merlin nodding along, while the rest of the knights and Arthur stood around the round table, wondering what exactly they were expected to do.

Catherine's scream ripped through the chatter of the birthing room. Gwen was stood by her bedside, clasping her hand tightly as another wave of pain rolled through Catherine's body. Gwaine was stood outside with Merlin, Lancelot and Percival. Apparently men were not allowed inside the room until the baby was born, excluding Gaius that was.

"I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS GWIANE!" Catherine screeched, dissolving into a strangled sob as her muscles contracted again.

Gwen began to rub small circles across her back and whisper soothing words, ignoring the sheen of sweat that coated Catherine's body as the woman gave birth to her first child.

"You're almost there." Gaius assured her. "I can see the crown."

Pushing again Catherine felt something give; the child was coming at long last.

"Stop!" Gauis said firmly, causing Catherine to scream in frustration instead of pain this time.

"What is it Gaius?" Gwen asked confused, supporting Catherine's weight as the exhaustion of childbirth took its toll.

"The child." Guias said solemnly, "The chord which attaches it to the mother is wrapped around its neck."

A sob of sheer sorrow wrenched itself from Catherine mouth as she buried her head into Gwen's shoulder.

"You could save it right though?" Gwen asked, attempting to calm Catherine's tears.

"I will try my best." Gaius told her. "Catherine, you're going to need to do exactly as I say."

_**Please Review!**_


	22. Chapter 22

_**I do not own any of the Merlin Characters from the show; they are the property of the BBC and not I. **_

Chapter Twenty Two – Updated 26/12/12

She was so small in his arms. Her head nestled perfectly in the crook of his elbow, her miniature toes only just reaching the palm of his hand as she rested against the coarse fabric of his shirt.

Through half lidded eyes Catherine watched as Gwaine held their new born daughter as if she were a glass figurine. The warrior had melted away as soon as the ridiculously small bundle had been passed to him, a blanket wrapped loosely around her, kicking and screaming with all her might. Surprisingly she'd settled quickly once in her father's arms, falling asleep against him and her little limbs becoming still as her squalling yells dimmed to soft gurgles.

A tentative knock came from the other side of the chamber doors before the hinges creaked open, revealing Lancelot, Elyan and Percival edging almost silently into the room. Three grins bloomed across their faces when they saw their friend sat across from them, holding what could just about be recognised as a baby beneath the brightly coloured cloth.

Arthur had been and gone already, commenting on how beautiful Gwaine's daughter was, his voice slightly tense as he watched how broody both Morgana and Gwen became as soon as they entered the room. Gwen was still around, tidying up bits and bobs and keeping an eye on things, like making sure Gwaine didn't accidently drop the child while Catherine dozed on the bed recovering.

"Let's see her then." Elyan chuckled, the delight that was radiating off Gwaine infecting everyone in the room. The three men leaned in to look down at the little scrap of flesh, noting how her thick, black lashes clung to her cheeks and her hand was wrapped around a section of her father's shirt in a tight grip.

"She's going to be unrivalled in her beauty no doubt." Lancelot said fondly, stepping away from his friend and pulling up a seat so that he could sit down. Elyan and Percival followed suit, placing their perches down as quietly as possible so as not to wake Catherine, who they were unsure if she were awake or asleep.

"It will certainly make things interesting when she gets older." Elyan commented, "For once it won't be some girl's father chasing Gwaine for looking at their daughter, it will be Gwaine throttling some poor lad who just so happened to pass by this little lady."

All four of them chuckled, knowing that it was probably true and that Gwaine was most likely going to be just a tad over protective of his little girl.

"Has Merlin seen her yet?" asked Elyan,

"Yes." Gwaine replied. "He came in earlier and we had to practically drag him and Morgana from the room in the end, Arthur is terrified that he's going to have another hormonal, pregnant female on his hands soon."

"And that one would have magic." Percival pointed out, speaking for the first time, "Might want to start wearing armour in doors if that happens."

"I think we'll be fine." Elyan reassured them, "Remember, Catherine only really went for Gwaine when she was pregnant, and Morgana would probably target Merlin." Another wave of chuckles went around the circle, quickly cut off by a hard glare from the fireplace where Gwen was cleaning.

"So anyway…" Gwaine muttered, trying to ignore the fact that Camelot seemed to be filling with women who had the power to more than intimidate him, quite easily. "Any news about the murdered girl?" he said softly.

"GWIANE!"

The four men jumped at the sound of Catherine yelling from the bed.

"What?" Gwaine spluttered, completely bemused. "What did I do?"

"Not in front of the baby!" she hissed back, lifting herself up on one elbow, her exhaustion clear since she hadn't leapt across the room and smacked Gwaine around the head. "I don't want anyone speaking about murder or death around our _newborn_ baby!" She clarified.

Seemingly happy that Gwaine had got the message Catherine dropped back down onto her pillows, falling asleep again almost immediately.

"Well so far…" Elyan started,

"No." Gwaine hissed, holding up his hand. "She will hear you and then I'll be dead, and then my daughter won't have her father, and she will have to rely on Princess to know what men are supposed to be like and I refuse to have her so poorly educated on the minds of men."

"You mean you don't want her growing up not knowing that most men are dogs." Gwen chirped cheerfully, swirling past Gwaine with a dustpan.

"Yes, exactly. I'm the perfect example of males that she should avoid at all costs."

Percival chuckled as both Elyan and Lancelot groaned.

"Never mind little one." Percival said softly to the babe in his friend's arms. "At least you can take after your mother instead."

Gwaine visibly paled.

"Oh Gods, I hope not."

_Very short I know but I needed something to fill between this chapter and next. _

_**For anyone interested, links to HG are on my profile, it's meant to be a brilliant read for anyone interested and I love feedback.**_


	23. Sequel

Story Continued!

The story is continuing in the sequel to this story called The Knight's Daughter. Please please keep reading, Catherine is back in fighting shape, Gwaine is an overprotective Dad and Morgana and Merlin are going to have to protect their own little bundle of joy! Will Thomas managed to break about this slightly obscure family though? Read to find out!

(Some of the chapters are in the middle of being redrafted and edited... so there are a few changed sorry) you can tell which chapters have been updated by the titles at the top of the page. They will have '_updated'_ and the date that they were redrafted on them.

Carol J Forrester


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